


The Pearls Ain't Free

by Turtle_Goose



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Elena Gilbert/Original Male Character, F/M, Minor Elena Gilbert/Klaus Mikaelson, Minor Kol Mikaelson/Rebekah Mikaelson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-21
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2017-12-24 04:34:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 41,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/935417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turtle_Goose/pseuds/Turtle_Goose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elena Gilbert and Klaus began a loaded game three and a half years ago, one Elijah unwittingly walks into.  Elijah's surprised to find a somewhat different Elena than the one he left a letter for that night after the caves, and Elena's determined to see her game through, old feelings be damned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The Vampire Diaries and all related material are copyrighted trademarks of The CW and L.J. Smith, all rights reserved. This is a work of fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended. 

**Prologue**

* * *

It was time. It was time to end this.

Klaus was right where she knew she would find him. Kol and Rebekah, predictably, were with him; they didn't matter at the moment. No, she had bigger game in mind. It was Klaus she was after. She wanted the wolf.

It was just as she expected it to look; the grandeur of the ballroom had been for show, a facade. This room was more personal, and it was every bit as dark and still as she'd imagined.

"You'll have to come back another time, Love. I don't have time for you right now," he said without even looking up from his sketchpad.

Kol and Rebekah smirked from their spot curled up together on a sofa. Two glasses barely filled with blood were on the table beside them. Kol turned his head to whisper something in his sister's ear and Rebekah grinned before whispering back in his.

She was prepared for this sort of reaction - she'd make him listen to her. In a show of confidence that surprisingly, she actually wasn't feigning, Elena arched a brow and pulled a blood bag out of her purse - her own. She threw it so that it landed at his feet without busting, label facing him. He looked up at her, down to the bag, and up at her again.

"Do you have time for me now?" she asked.

The slow, dark grin that lit his unholy face was her answer.

So it began.


	2. One

**Chapter One**

* * *

Elijah's return to an old family residence in the countryside of England had been mere chance.

The bus he was riding was forced to detour because one of the local bridges was out. Erstwhile teenagers with bored minds were credited with the deed. While the other passengers had all been put out with the news, Elijah hadn't minded. It wasn't as though he hadn't the time to waste. He'd gotten off at the detoured stop, ignoring the questioning looks the driver and some passengers had given him. He picked up his suitcase with ease, and waited for the bus to leave.

He began walking. Eventually he recognized where he was and realized he'd be passing near the old manor he and his siblings had once ruled in their lofty ways. Nostalgia led him to visit rather than pass the manor by; it would be empty. As far as he knew, Klaus and the others were in the small little town of Mystic Falls, wreaking havoc upon the painfully oblivious inhabitants. He'd not spoken with any of them since his departure, save twice: once to say yes, he'd be happy to Fed-Ex his blood in order to be unbound from the rest of them and again when a crying Rebekah had told him of Finn's death. Elijah had taken his years of self-imposed exile seriously.

The loneliness and detachment from the world were deserved after the monster he'd been. _Even you, Elijah, with your claim to nobility, you're no better._ Companionship was something he'd have to earn and even after nearly three years since he'd fled Mystic Falls, he wasn't sure he'd done so. _She didn't make us into monsters. We did that to ourselves._

He smiled grimly to himself as he made his way up the widened path to the manor. From the outside, the manor was every bit as grand as he remembered. The inside, however, he'd not stepped foot in since 1820. As he did so now, he raised an eyebrow at the updates and repairs that had taken place, particularly the walls. He recalled the night when Kol had thrown a friend of the family's - a vampire by the name of Radulf - through one of them, with a painting that by today's standards would be worth a small fortune were it not destroyed. Klaus and Elijah had not been pleased, nor had Radulf's mentor Ulrich - a personal friend of Elijah. Radulf, who when pushed had a similar temperament as Kol, had snapped Kol's neck in retaliation, continuing to seduce away the young debutante Kol had been 'courting' all Season with ease... the poor thing had met a tragic death at the hands of a 'wild animal' afterwards. (Kol never really had played well with others - with the exception for his siblings and Radulf. It was as much of an effort to reign in Kol as it was Rebekah - the pair of them were forever locked at 17 and 19.) Everything in the building shined and what modernizations had taken place were perfectly styled with the old time charm of the manor. The kitchen in particular was impressive.

Looking back, it had been strange to be home. It had been surprising to learn that Klaus, Kol and Rebekah had been living there for a few months.

It had been shocking to find that _she_ was with them. Also, that she hadn't even fought against them. More still, that it had been something she'd actually _negotiated_.

He was forever underestimating her.

()()()

"And our brother has returned!" Klaus proclaimed. He actually stood to greet him, and gave him a brotherly embrace he'd not given since before 1902.

"You look well," Elijah said. "As do both of you," he added, turning his attention to Kol and Rebekah.

"Nothing like the English countryside to perk a body up," Kol said as he raised his glass - filled with blood - in toast.

"I see that the walls have been repaired," Elijah added lightly.

"We needed to make sure they were available for when Kol pitches his next hissy fit." Rebekah smirked.

"I'll take his fits over yours. Kol didn't attempt to eat Lady Jersey and almost earn himself the cut direct at Almacks," Elijah said in his pointed way while Kol gifted a pouting Rebekah with a smug smile. England always did funny things to Rebekah.

"Spare me your lectures, Elijah," she said. "All that matters is that I didn't kill her and I was given the nod to waltz." She smiled, pleased with the memory... Her dancing partner had tasted so delicious that night.

Their biting banter continued until it was time for dinner - which Klaus had the funny habit of insisting upon. While it tasted delicious to their heightened pallets, it wasn't as if human food was of any nutritional value to them. Sure it helped for appearances, but otherwise... Sometimes it was best to just not try and figure out Klaus's mind.

It was odd that Klaus, ever the stickler for punctuality, was the last to join them. He finally entered the dining room while tucking a cellphone (a monstrosity of one, really - as if the screen needed to be that big) into his pocket. He took his seat in an unhurried manner.

"Our family, together again. I wasn't sure if this day would ever come, but I am glad it has." Klaus grinned toothily and for a brief moment, he was the old Klaus, the one who made mischief, avoided their father, and blushed bright red whenever Tatia or some other pretty girl had deigned to favor him with a smile.

A few hybrids entered the room and began silver service. (It was incredible what they could be compelled to do.) Klaus must be in a fine mood indeed.

"Where did your travels take you? You left us for so long." Rebekah asked as they ate.

(And indeed he was eating, and enjoying the food. It wasn't fair that Klaus had chosen to serve all of his favorite dishes.)

"Here and there," Elijah said simply, doing so only because he knew it irked her when he dodged her questions. It was a centuries old game between them - back from when she'd still sat on his knee while he'd spun stories and tweaked her braids.

Sure enough, Rebekah glared at him and he couldn't stop the wide grin from forming on his face. Moreover, he didn't _want_ to stop it. He'd longed for moments like these for hundreds of years. Having his family - most of them - alive and well was a grace he never thought he'd know again.

"I spent time traveling Europe. Mostly I resided in Salzburg," he clarified.

Kol shot Rebekah a triumphant look and she pouted.

"I do believe you've just lost our dear Bekah several hundred pounds," Klaus said.

"All this time and you still can't keep away from the betting books, can you?" he asked the both of them. He still had the actual White's books in his possession somewhere - he'd had to work a tricky bit of compulsion to switch the books with his and Klaus's altered ones.

Kol grinned. "She got five thousand from me a few months back."

Rebekah nodded proudly.

"Bought herself a new wardrobe, too!" Kol added cheerfully.

Rebekah's pride instantly was replaced with ire. She glared and flung a knife at her youngest brother. It hit Kol squarely in the chest, sinking in with a sickening crunch followed by a squelching sound. Kol laughed as he pulled it out.

"I'd like to see your clothes, if I might," Elijah commented lightly.

"Please, Elijah, not again!" Rebekah pleaded. "Nik, don't let him!"

Klaus shrugged and continued to eat his dinner, undisturbed by the pleading, the knife-flinging, and Elijah effortlessly slipping back into his role as older, over-protective brother.

"It won't take long," Elijah promised.

Rebekah huffed and sat back in her chair, arms crossed. In her mind she was cataloging the various items she was sure Elijah would throw out. It was 1820 all over again. If she could find some way to hide that one shirt...

"Cheer up, Beks," Kol cajoled. "You know he's just going to buy you more anyway."

As the two of them bickered back and forth, Klaus looked at Elijah. "Tell me again why you felt it was necessary to drop by?"

Elijah smirked.

()()()

(Eight dresses, twelve skirts, and seven shirts were thrown out. A new low record. Rebekah continued to glare daggers at him as he directed the mute hybrid to throw the offending clothing away. In the doorway Kol was elevating the smirk to an art form.

Elijah kissed her cheek and slid her his credit card.

She sighed and followed him out of the room. It was her turn to be smug when he entered Kol's room and proceeded to toss out items from his closet as well.

Kol was less pleased, but when Rebekah waved the credit card around, he shut up.

"Children," Elijah muttered under his breath.)

()()()

They gathered later that evening in one of the parlors.

Klaus handed him a drink. "So tell me, Brother, really, what brings you to England?"

"I was merely passing through, actually. A bridge was out and I decided to travel on foot."

Kol couldn't contain his grin. He never had much of a poker face.

"Did you explode the bridge?" Elijah asked.

A shrug. "I was bored," his youngest brother answered.

Elijah shook his head. "Did you know that I was going to be passing by?"

"He didn't," Klaus said. "None of us did, Elijah. Besides, you've been damned hard to get a hold of for the past few years."

Elijah nodded.

"Can we persuade you to stay for a spell?" Kol asked. "I'm sure you'll find the company quite stimulating."

Elijah gifted Kol with an appraising look. He and Rebekah were smirking and even Klaus looked like he wanted to join in on the joke. A horrible thought suddenly dawned on him and he nearly groaned. "Please tell me Mary isn't here," he said almost pleadingly.

"Thankfully no," Klaus said. "You will be happy to hear Kol staked her when the Salvatores were trying to determine which of us they could kill without killing themselves."

The relief he felt was paramount; he just couldn't deal with Scary Mary - he couldn't, truly. Few things or people could genuinely try his patience - Mary had been one of them. She had been so obsessed, so needy... "I can't say I'm sorry that she's gone," Elijah said. "Particularly if it helped to keep us alive."

"They've gotten over their 'killing us,' phase, thankfully." Rebekah smiled brightly.

Elijah could only nod. The loss of Finn was still quite painful. He'd loved his brother, for all that his brother had hated himself.

"Well," Klaus said, walking over and clapping him on the shoulder. "Welcome home. Please, walk around the estate and reminisce, it's been too long since you've been here."

Suspicious (for the three of them - Klaus especially - looked far too cheerful for his liking), Elijah did just that.

()()()

"Five thousand says he tries to kill Klaus when he returns," Rebekah said as the three of them watched Elijah walking off in the distance.

Kol nodded. "You're on. I'm pretty sure he learned his lesson after Katerina."

Klaus just smirked. "That's a bet you're going to lose, Kol. I'm astounded you didn't notice that our brother turns into a love-struck twelve year-old whenever she is around. Or mentioned."

"This is going to be so much fun," Rebekah said. "I wish I could hear the conversation those two are going to have."

"Things certainly are going to be much more interesting," Klaus agreed. He just hoped his brother wouldn't pitch too much of a fuss.

()()()

Even as the summer day's brilliance gave way to the impending darkness of night he loved this place. The grounds were every bit as magnificent as they had ever been - wild and cultivated at the same time. He found it curious that Klaus would see to the upkeep over hundreds of years. Klaus was somewhat obsessive when it came to order, but for the same estate over and over?

To his surprise one large section of the garden behind the manor now sported a very nice swimming pool. It was tastefully blended into the landscaping and Elijah decided he would make only a minor fuss. No doubt Rebekah and Kol had talked Klaus into it; the pair of them always had loved to swim. Indeed it had chafed Rebekah greatly when any society of the time deemed swimming a pastime for men only.

He recalled happier times while walking such as Rebekah's society debut and Kol's engagement to a young lady who'd later met a tragic fate. He walked without aim or purpose and finally wound up near the old steward's house - cottage like in appearance, which appeared to have been updated as well. Several windows spilled forth a warm glow and he could hear a heartbeat inside.

Curious to see what updates Klaus had made, Elijah tried the door and found it unlocked. But when he tried to step over the threshold, he was blocked. He couldn't enter. A barrier stopped him, one he would never have expected to encounter on his family's property. He closed the door and was about to leave when he heard someone coming down the stairs of the house. When the person in question opened the door to greet him, he was surprised his jaw didn't hit the floor in shock.

"Elijah." A wide smile, one that had haunted his dreams. "Please, come inside."

Elena Gilbert was in England. Elena Gilbert was living under his brother's eye. Elena Gilbert had just invited him into a home she apparently now owned. To say he was stunned would have been a gross understatement.

He finally stepped inside and shut the door behind him. He followed her into the house's sitting room and sat down.

Elena took her seat and heaved a sigh before smiling brightly at him. "I believe we have some catching up to do."

Elijah could only nod.


	3. Two

**Chapter Two**

* * *

Elijah was the sort of man who was always at ease - or gave the appearance of always being at ease. It was a skill that, over the centuries, had served him well. At this moment, however, he wanted to fidget, walk around, or do something other than simply sit while Elena was in the kitchen - her kitchen - making coffee. The entire situation was far too surreal. And it also explained so much about his siblings' smug and obnoxious behavior earlier. They'd deliberately not told him.

Finally Elena reappeared with two steaming mugs of coffee. She looked unaffected by the situation at hand and he was curious to see if that would hold. Maybe her poker face - already impressive - had strengthened in the time that had passed. She handed him one mug of the brew and sat down across from him on the chair near the fireplace, which was unlit in deference to the summer season.

"I wondered why Klaus had called to cancel our dinner. He's usually so insistent on it," Elena said in opening. She pulled a packet of Irish Cream creamer out of her pocket and went about adding it to her coffee. The drink turned a milky brown as she swirled it with a spoon.

There was his explanation for why Klaus had been late to dinner. "I must say that this was the last thing I expected when I decided to visit my old family home." Elijah took a drink of his coffee - Elena had remembered exactly how he took it. They'd only had coffee the once, a night so long ago when he'd stopped his sister from killing her.

"I wasn't sure if you would ever show up or not. Klaus mentioned it was a possibility, but I figured he was playing one of his usual mind games." Elena rolled her eyes. "Or attempting to, at least."

Beyond the eye-rolling, there was something in her tone when she mentioned Klaus that he hadn't heard before. "The way you speak of him, it is as though you and he know each other very well," he said, surprised. He ignored the brief thought that such a familiarity would make him uncomfortable.

"We do," Elena confirmed with a shrug. "A lot of things changed when you left. He and I had to come to some sort of an agreement if I ever wanted my family to be safe."

Elijah's curiosity flared up. Klaus rarely made deals; he had always been far too impulsive. "What sort of an agreement did the two of you strike?"

Elena waved his question off. "It's not important."

He disagreed, vehemently so. Elena was more than capable of making her own decisions, he knew - even if a certain pair of brothers back in Mystic Falls had once done everything in their power to keep her from doing so. But still... "How can you possibly trust him?"

"We sealed our agreement with blood and magic," Elena said flatly.

An uncomfortable awareness started to dawn on him. Magic _and_ blood... The pair of them must have been desperate. A thousand years had taught him that a desperate Klaus was not a good thing. And Klaus would have had something to hold over her; that was how his brother worked. "What exactly was used as leverage?"

"The only thing Klaus and I felt equally strong about." Elena smiled without humor. Elijah then knew that she'd had something to hold over him as well - it wouldn't have been Elijah himself or his siblings, it would have been something else, something other than what he knew she was about to say. "Our loved ones."

"Yours including the Salvatores, your brother, the teacher, and your other friends, and for Klaus's loved ones I can only assume that means myself, Kol, and Rebekah." He needed a stiff drink - he would even settle for having a splash of it in his coffee.

"His hybrids, too," Elena added. "To make it simple, if either one of us breaks any part of our deal... Everyone dies. Everyone. We have everything to lose if one of us backs out. So we won't."

He wasn't quite sure what to say. Once again, through no action of his own (yet through Elena's) his life and survival was inextricably tied to those of his siblings. He felt a deep anger rising in him but pushed it forcibly down - he didn't want to lose his temper with her the way he had after the ball. He, reluctantly, could understand the desperation Elena must have felt - most likely she'd been far more desperate than Klaus. He decided to go fishing for information. "So you reside here with Klaus until your agreement has reached its end?"

"Pretty much. Wherever he and the others go, I go. We've been here for almost half a year." Not enough.

"How long are you bound to stay with him?" He tried a different route.

"A few more years, yet," Elena said, saying enough to say nothing. She knew what game he was playing, he could tell; she wasn't going to give up her court.

"How long have you been-"

"Long enough to retake most of my last two years of high school and graduate. We traveled for a bit and now we're here." He would swear that she was almost _enjoying_ this questioning.

"The cottage?" he gestured around. "I was surprised to find it inhabited; it was once where the caretaker lived."

"This wasn't a part of our agreement, actually. It was more of a pleasant surprise, than anything. Klaus put it in my name and had a witch spell it so that with the exception of him, no one can enter without my invite, no matter what they are. His only condition was that he has unrestricted access. I have to let him in. Actually, now that I think about it, you're the first person I've invited inside since he made me use the housekeeper he found."

"He found you a housekeeper?" Elijah arched a brow.

"For appearances, he said." Elena eyed him with sudden mischievous eyes. "Apparently I now reside under the care of nobility and should do nothing to embarrass them or insinuate that they'd be so classless as to insist I do the cleaning myself." Her voice had taken on a haughty, superior tone.

She was, he realized, making fun of him. Elijah, to his credit, did not squirm. "We haven't used the titles in a very long time. We compelled our way to nobility hundreds of years ago." He shrugged. "It made some years of living here easier, what with the population and their fanciful ideas of the times."

"What about when it was time for you guys to leave again? What happened to the succession?"

He was curious as to how she knew the workings of all of this, how interested she was in the intricacies. "Compulsion could work wonders. When we got bored and it was time for us to reappear after a generation or two, either Klaus or myself would ensure the current holder would somehow meet a tragic fate, thus sending the title to his distant relation Elijah, who would then bring his family and join the society of the time."

Elena's shoulders shook as she lowered her head. "I just keep thinking about those terrible romance novels my mom and I used to read and laugh over. The idea of you and Klaus in skin-tight breeches and top coats is hilarious." She burst into a fit of giggles and Elijah only felt slightly annoyed.

"It wasn't all in the 1800's," he said.

"But you did wear them," she said with another giggle. After a few minutes she sobered up slightly. "I'll bet Rebekah was stunning though."

Elijah nodded. "She was. Rebekah never lacked for attention and every day there were suitors clamoring about, hoping to catch her notice. Kol was a hellion of a rake, and in the scandal sheets every other week. Klaus flitted in and out, gracing an opera performance here or a soiree there."

"And the duke?" Elena prodded, still obviously amused.

Damn Klaus for insisting Elijah compel the highest title he could. "Busy in the House of Lords and isn't it a shame his poor wife is too frail to make it to town? She must miss him terribly."

Elena frowned. "Did any of you actually marry?"

"I never did, since I had a fictional wife who was never in town. The others however settled down once or twice for appearances. And the young couples would always meet a tragic fate when others began to notice how we never aged or produced children."

"It all sounds so tragic."

"In a way, I suppose it was." Glad that the subject was closed, he finished his coffee and studied her. "Are you happy, Elena?" It was only one question, but past experience had taught him that Elena would recognize all the litle nuances of it. 

Elena shrugged. "I'm content, I guess. Everyone I love is safe and that makes me happy. Sometimes it's lonely here all by myself, but I'd do it all over again, if I had to."

"What exactly do you do with your time?"

"Like I said, I retook my last two years of high school back in the U.S. We were living in Maine. Here I attend the nearby college; I finished half a term before it ended. I'm working on a degree in English literature, picking up a writing class here and there. I'm amazed my grades were even good enough. I think Klaus pulled some strings, but he denies it."

"Do you enjoy it?"

"I do. Before my parents died I really liked school. I didn't always pay attention like I should have, but I enjoyed it. This kind of brings it back; there wasn't time to enjoy it with all the supernatural drama going on." She kept fiddling with the ring around her right middle finger. It was a dainty silver piece of decoration that Elijah recognized as one of the family rings they'd had made several hundred years ago. Klaus had designed them himself and Elijah could recall watching the silversmith set the gleaming... wait, no. It was the same band, he was sure of it, but it been set with a _diamond_ , not the blood-red ruby-like stone on Elena's finger. Interesting.

"You say you are grateful for the lack of supernatural drama, yet you reside under the care of a vampire-werewolf hybrid, his army of hybrids, and his vampire siblings."

Elena nodded, unconcerned. "And I'm the doppelgänger. We found a balance." Sometimes, he thought, Elena was far too wise for her years.

"Does he treat you well?" Klaus had once been a kind and caring man, full of spirit and good humor and would never dream of harming a woman. Now, however... Elijah didn't feel the least bit apprehensive in worrying for her. "He does not hurt you?" He dared to ask.

"Mostly he leaves me alone. He insists on dinner once a month and it goes back and forth between here and the manor. He's been very considerate of me since we came to our agreement."

He'd have to ponder that. It was clear to see that Elena, like him, had learned the art of choosing words carefully, almost without fault. "Rebekah?"

Elena snorted. "She ignores me most of the time. Kol really just does his own thing - usually something dangerous, psychotic, or both."

Elijah nodded. "He's a douchebag."

Elena laughed at that - she found Elijah's penchant for modern slang at random moments quite amusing. "You two look so alike. I mean, you're brothers, but out of your whole family, you and Kol look the most similar."

"You are not the first to say so."

Elena was quiet for long moment and he felt as though she was about to ask him questions he wasn't sure he wanted to answer. She didn't disappoint. "Why did you leave?"

He could spin her so many answers, all delicately inlaid with varying slivers of truth. Yet she deserved more than evasion. "I hurt you." He could have brought up his family, but didn't.

Elena sat back, unimpressed. "Plenty of people have hurt me and still stuck around." She didn't sound bitter, just resigned. He thought of the people in her life - all of them had no qualms about doing anything and everything to keep her safe, even as their actions broke her heart and left her to deal with the usually bloody aftermath.

"I behaved deplorably, Elena. I could not remain where I could continue to harm you." Years later he still felt the shame burning from his actions that day - worse yet he knew he'd still make the same choices if placed in that position again.

"So you ran."

So much for spinning it. He nodded. "I ran."

"Where did you go?"

Another loaded question. He caught sight of the time. "A conversation for another day, Elena. It's late."

Elena nodded and he could tell that she was fully aware that he wasn't ready to talk about it. She didn't say a word, however. He was grateful for her understanding. The pair of them always seemed to meet as equals, he thought - and always seemed to be equally aware of each other. She gave him his out, confident that he'd make good on his word to explain himself at another time. And he would.

Elena saw him out and he kissed her hand goodbye, well aware that it was a step above their usual interaction.

"Elijah?"

"Yes?"

"It's good to see you again." She leaned against the doorway.

He nodded. "And it is always a privilege to spend time with you." He paused. "Good night, Elena."

"Good night." She stepped back and shut the door.

He made his way back to the main house, his mind racing in a way it hadn't in years.

Klaus had some explaining to do.

()()()

"Did you enjoy the night air?" Klaus asked as he saw Elijah striding towards him. "It's refreshing, isn't it?"

Kol and Rebekah sat together on a sofa, bodies curled together. The eagerness was plain to see in the way they watched their brothers.

Klaus stood, unmoving, and braced himself. He'd known this day would eventually come. Elijah was going to need to let it all out. He felt the first punch dislodge some of his teeth. Another blow from Elijah would have sent him into a coma were he human.

"Do be reasonable," he said, voice slurred with lost teeth and a mouth full of his own blood.

"What gave you the right to play with my life like this?" Elijah asked in a quiet voice. _Ah, he was_ that _angry_ , Klaus thought. Elijah's anger could be grouped into three stages. Stage one was comprised of sharp, cutting, witty remarks - it's deceptive humor led many a poor soul into a false sense of safety. Stage two, harder to come by, was marked by his raised voice and occasionally a fist. Yet stage three was the rarest of all, only seen once every few hundred years. In that stage his voice was quiet and even and it meant that blood was going to be spilt in a long, drawn-out process. Klaus decided to goad him some more.

"Well," he said as Elijah delivered another punch that sent him stumbling followed by a kick that jolted him into a wall, cracking the plaster at the top. "I wanted to tell her no, but she's so pretty when she begs."

He could hear Kol snapping pictures on his phone, along with Rebekah's amused giggles.

"You're going to tell me about this deal," Elijah said. Klaus was lifted and thrown across the room and into a mirror. It shattered, sending shards into his back and over the floor.

"I won't," Klaus managed. His teeth, just beginning to sort themselves, were knocked loose again. "And you're going to have to stop unless you want everyone to die. Do you really want to be responsible for killing Kol or Rebekah? For killing your lovely Elena?"

Elijah finally let up. When he helped Klaus to his feet, he eyed his younger brother wearily. "What have you done?" he asked softly.

Klaus grinned with a mouthful of bloody teeth. "I've finally found a game that amuses me." He cricked his neck. "I feel like some air. Try not to destroy anymore of the manor."

He was gone before anyone could say anything.


	4. Three

**Chapter Three**

* * *

Elena cleaned up the coffee and went about straightening up her living room. Elijah was a remarkably neat man, so there was little mess to clean. Usually she'd be grateful, but she could have really used the distraction. Elijah was actually in England, was actually here at the estate. Curiously, he'd had no idea she was here, she could tell. The look on his face when he'd first saw her had been comical, for how brief it was. This was a complication she didn't need. 

She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed Elijah and his calm, authoritative manor. She hadn't realized that she'd hoped he'd appear until he'd actually been at her door. It was like everything had slid back into place between them - the mutual understanding between kindred spirits. The familiarity they shared was just... there. Nothing had been needed to spark it, just the two of them together in the same place. It was how it had been ever since that first deal of theirs up in her old bedroom.

Elijah had asked about her deal with Klaus - and it was apparent that their deal was also something he'd been unaware of. Elena had waved off the exact terms of the deal - those were for her and Klaus alone. She was loathe to get into the gritty details for her own sanity's sake. She also, more importantly, couldn't be sure that Elijah wouldn't try to interfere, should he learn exactly what she and Klaus had agreed to. Elijah had always respected her and her right to make her own choices - moreso than anyone in her life, but her deal with Klaus, she knew, was something that would test his restraint. Telling him of what would happen were the deal not honored however, had been compulsive - Elena had promised herself that she'd never lie to him again, after that day in caves. Elijah had to know how serious the consequences would be were there any interference - the deal struck between herself and Klaus allowed no room for error.

She looked down at the silver and not-quite-ruby ring she'd been wearing for the past three years. It was a constant reminder of what she'd sacrificed to keep her family safe. Heavily spelled (she remembered watching the stone turn from gleaming diamond into blood-red honor), so long as she wore the ring, she and her... keepers, as she liked to call them sometimes, could not be found by anyone Elena did not want to find them. Damon Salvatore could stand right in front of her and not see her; Bonnie couldn't use magic to track her down; her e-mail, Facebook, anything - undetectable so long as that ring stayed on her finger and her will remained steadfast. Elena Gilbert, for all intents and purposes, was a girl who did not exist.

She felt a swell of grief but forced it away. Her deal with Klaus had been the only way for peace - she wasn't going to let anyone sacrifice themselves for her or get hurt trying to save her. The pain of missing those closest to her was deserved; she'd hurt them all so much with her indecision and selfishness and ability to attract any and all supernatural peril. If giving herself over to Klaus was what it took to save them from themselves and from her...

Living with Klaus and his family wasn't so terrible, much to Elena's surprise. Although Rebekah mostly ignored Elena, she would sometimes have a fit of loneliness, wander back into Elena's garden, and the two women would talk. A few times they had even gone shopping together, trips during which Rebekah scoffed and critized what she called Elena's lamentable lack of style. (Elena usually ended up with new wardrobes - not a stitch of which she'd picked out herself.) As for Kol... Well, Kol made it hard for Elena to pin his sort down. He seemed to oscillate between moods quickly. Klaus and Rebekah were used to that; Elena, not so much. He had no problems causing chaos; he actually seemed to thrive on it. But for all the emotional whiplash he could incite, Kol was quick with a joke. He'd surprised Elena early on with his ability to easily pull her out of her darker moods. He also delighted in taunting his siblings, which amused Elena to no end.

Then, lastly, there was Klaus. Klaus was something of a fox; he could be the very essence of charming when he wanted to be - usually luring the person in before he showed his true colors. When that happened, the man was as terrifying as Elena had always thought; the few times she'd seen someone provoke his temper had been horrific. Since their agreement, however, rarely was his cruel side directed toward her. As monstrous as he was, he pretended to be a gentleman. He rarely talked down to Elena or demeaned her. He finally stopped bringing up the Salvatores. He even, in his more agreeable moments, would share stories of centuries passed. He seemed genuinely interested in her progress with school. The graduation party he had thrown for her and Rebekah when they'd finished high school in Maine had been an almost other-worldly experience. When she actually bothered to log-in to her Facebook account (Elena Masters), the party was _still_ talked about by her former classmates, held up as the standard to which all other parties would attempt to match - and fail miserably. Elena had been shocked to realize that Klaus was celebrating her accomplishment as much as he was Rebekah's. And, she wondered, would he even bother for when she finished her schooling at the local college? Rebekah wasn't attending, but Kol, oddly enough, compelled his way into a course here and there.

Her inner arm throbbed and she rubbed it absently as she went into the kitchen and took a box from the cabinet over the sink. It was past time for her daily up-keep regimen and she needed it today more than usual. Laid out just so in the seven days a week pill box were the vitamins and medication that had become such a large part if her life. There were iron supplements and multivitamins. There was also the medication used to treat her anemia. The doctors she'd chosen as her physicians were compelled to document the anemia as result of heavy blood loss from irregular menstrual cycles. The reality, however, was much different.

Every month Elena would leave the manor with Klaus and go to a clinic where she would "donate" a pint - sometimes two - of blood. Her supernatural status as the doppelgänger caused her blood to replenish faster than normal, but it was still taxing on her. Klaus would feed her his blood - in a bottle, since she refused do drink from him personally - to replenish some of what had been taken. Afterwards Elena would fall asleep, usually for the rest of the day. Then, in the evening, she would have one of her monthly dinners with Klaus and his siblings at the manor proper. Usually dinner that particular night would involve some sort of red meat - Elena, who had never been big on meat, had grown enamored of steak along with other foods that were high in protein, iron, and vitamins. It wasn't an ideal situation and Elena hated that she gave blood at all, but it was a part of their deal and Klaus was surprisingly tactful about the whole matter. The one time he'd heard Kol refer to her as his walking blood factory, Kol had ended up sprawled on the front lawn, surrounded by shattered glass - and stuck with the repair bill.

She dutifully took her pills and decided to heat up the leftover steak fajita mix that she'd made for dinner after Klaus had called to cancel. It was late, but she'd had a taxing day - one of the times when he'd collected two bags - and dammit she was still hungry. She grabbed and ate a banana (she was _very_ hungry) while she waited. The microwave had just went off when she heard the familiar knock at the door

"It's open, Klaus!" she called knowing it would be him. He always announced himself with a single, imperial-like knock. She heard the door open and shut. Discarding the foil from the plate in the microwave, she sighed and braced herself. He would be in a mood; she was sure of it.

"And how are we tonight?" Klaus asked as he joined her in the kitchen.

She stared at him. His nose was bloody and she could see his left eye was healing rapidly from trauma. " _I'm_ fine. You, on the other hand..." she trailed off pointedly.

Klaus grinned; the inside of his mouth was bloody from broken teeth that were fixing themselves. "Elijah and I had a scuffle," he said cheerfully. "I do believe he was trying to defend your honor. It was adorable. Kol took pictures.."

"He did seem uncomfortable about this," Elena said simply, loading a plate with food and pouring herself a glass of milk. She motioned to ask if he wanted a glass and Klaus shook his head. She didn't like that it was something that came so easily to her; it was the way she'd offer Jeremy something back home. She didn't want that kind of instinctive, familiarity with Klaus. She didn't want it, but she had it.

"Elijah has always had something of a temper," Klaus said, eying her plate with approval. "Not that his losing it happens very often."

Elena eyed Klaus, wearily, though her concern wasn't levied at him. "Do you think that he'll be a problem?"

Klaus slowly shook his head. "No. He was more upset that we bet his life and others against our deal than anything else. And he was a little miffed that I wouldn't tell him the specifics." Klaus gave her an appraising look. "I'd have thought you would have poured your soul out to him."

Standing at the counter and eating, it was Elena's turn; she too, slowly shook her head. "Elijah knows the importance of words. I couldn't risk that he'd try to find a loop hole somewhere or do something to throw it into danger."

"This is certainly a change, seeing as you once trusted him with your life. What changed? Was it the caves and how he left Rebekah to babysit you? She did try to light you on fire, if I recall her bragging correctly."

"No," Elena said, mulling it over in her mind. "That I understood, probably more than I should have. I think it was the letter he left me that night, before he went away." Klaus raised an eyebrow, obviously unaware of the letter that Elijah had left for her, one that Elena still had, folded into a book she never read but carried with her. "Elijah cares about me," Elena clarified softly. "And I've noticed that when people care about me, they tend to do stupid things like try to save me and end up hurting themselves or others in the process."

"The burden of being you," Klaus said tauntingly. Clearly he'd grown impatient with such deep talk and was trying to goad her out of her introspective mood. "How many lives _are_ on your hands? How many lives have you inadvertantly ended?"

Elena stiffened, then answered, choosing her words carefully. "My parents - both sets, Bonnie's mother and grandmother, my aunt Jenna, a few classmates, and a few witches. I'm also responsible for your brother Finn, and Caroline."

Klaus leaned back as though he'd been slapped when she mentioned his elder brother, along with the young vampire he'd been so taken with only to have the girl in question soundly reject him and later run off with her un-sired lover.

"Katherine used Caroline to send a message to myself, Damon, and Stefan."

"And just what was that message?" He was trying to affect a cool demeanor and failing.

"That 1) she was back and 2) for me to get out of the picture because Damon and Stefan belong to her."

Klaus's fists tightened and for a moment Elena thought he was going to snap at her. He a deep (unnecessary) breath and then relaxed. "Well, it seems your doppelganger has much to pay for."

"And I don't?" Elena countered. Not that there was any love lost between she and Katherine but for reasons she couldn't explain to herself, she didn't want the other woman with her face dead, especially not at Klaus's hand. 

"You never asked to be what you are." She hated when Klaus could see into her like that, could be so reasonable. How could he, when he used her, what she was, for his own gain without a second thought?

"Neither did she," Elena said. "I'm going to take a guess and say that first didn't, either? That was your mother's decision, right?"

Before she could blink Klaus had slammed her against the refrigerator, pinning her to its cold, hard surface. His hands had painful grips on her arms, right where the the needle had gone in that day so her blood could be given. "You're going to want to chose your words a bit more carefully next time, my Darling," he hissed warningly in her ear. He never talked about the originator of her bloodline, nor did he ever appreciate Elena asking about her.

He realized the position he had her in and where his hands had gripped her and started to pull away, before Elena quickly gripped his forearms with her hands and squeezed, encouraging him to continue to grip tighter - all to draw the pain out a little longer.

"Miss it, do you?" he asked with a smirk.

Elena suddenly realized what she'd done and ducked away from his hold. He let her go without a fight. "Not a chance," she hissed.

"Keep telling yourself that, Love." He guided her back over to the counter and encouraged her to continue eating. She didn't have much of an appetite left, but he pointedly watched her until she gave in and forced herself to finish the steak fajitas.

He tried for light chit-chat but the atmosphere was far too tense and most words out of his mouth were laced with dark innuendo. Most Petrova bloodline matters had that result, Elena had noticed. As did any sort of extended physical contact. He'd rarely touched her so since that day she'd charged head-first into the lion's den and negotiated her way out of Mystic Falls. She was civil thoughout the rest of her meal, however, and even walked him out to the door. Before he took his leave (and admonished her to not stay up too late) he informed her she'd be joining his family for dinner the following night.

"Since our dinner was cancelled," he said. "And it's been years since our family has been together again. Wear something nice. If you're feeling picky, I know Kol and Rebekah will be looking to replenish their wardrobes after Elijah's little raid.

Smiling at Elena's puzzled look, Klaus leaned down to gently kiss her - not quite with intentions, but not chaste, either, and left with a grin on his face.


	5. Four

**Four**

* * *

Elena finally got her explanation of Klaus's parting statement the previous night.

Elijah, it seemed, had a habit of overseeing his siblings' wardrobes. Rebekah had pouted when she explained it to Elena the next morning. She'd launched a rock at Elena's unbreakable bedroom window to wake her up and started gabbing the moment Elena stepped out of the safety of her little cottage and through selecting a car and leaving the estate. Kol was a bit more game regarding the whole matter, but had lost several things he'd been particularly fond of. "He's been like this for years," Kol said in a bored tone as he swerved the car - Klaus's third favorite Maserati - in and out of traffic. (Elena had long stopped hanging on for dear life - neither Kol nor Rebekah would do anything to put her in jeopardy.) "Back in 1820 he destroyed everything Rebekah had bought for the Season." He smirked. "Then he replaced everything, of course."

"The tricky part is figuring out his criteria," Rebekah said from the front seat. "It's never because it's too revealing or scandalous."

"So this little shopping trip is his way of replacing what he threw out?" Elena asked.

"Yes," Kol said. "There's nothing like shopping on someone else's money."

"Are you planning in cleaning him out, or what?" Elena knew next to nothing about the financials of Klaus and his family, save that money was never an issue. Any clothing or entertainment she wanted was hers, all she had to do was ask.

Rebekah and Kol snorted. "That would be hard to do. When you live for a thousand years, you learn how to get wealthy and stay that way," Rebekah said. "He's always had a head for numbers."

"No one knows exactly how much he has, however. But those suits of his aren't exactly cheap," Kol added, honking the horn and flipping off another driver for not using the turn signal.

"What exactly are we shopping for?"

"Well," Rebekah said. "Klaus mentioned something about dinner tonight being formal, so we'll have to find you something. I just intend to replace the clothes he threw out. Kol?"

"The same," he said. "And we know all of the best places to shop, so this should be fun." He eyed her in the rear view mirror. "And by fun, I mean expensive."

Elena just sat back and watched the scenery. She'd long since gotten used to Kol and Rebekah and their personalities. The two of them were very close and it had only taken Elena walking in on the two of them kissing and taking off each others' clothes for her to figure out that the two of them were in fact closer than most would consider moral. But Elena figured that when one was an ancient vampire who had seen the rise and fall of civilizations, certain rules simply didn't matter.

"I don't need anything fancy," she insisted.

"I'll be the judge of that," Rebekah said airily. "After all, you don't want to disappoint Elijah, do you?

Elena stiffened. "What does Elijah have to do with it?" she asked.

Rebekah smirked. "You really are oblivious, Elena, aren't you?"

"He fancies you," Kol said simply.

"Elijah?" Elena questioned incredulously. "No, he doesn't."

Rebekah snorted.

"He doesn't," Elena insisted. "We're friends."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Rebekah said, and let the matter drop.

()()()

Over the next four hours, Elena was dragged from boutique to boutique, had armfuls of clothing shoved into her arms to put in dressing rooms, and was utterly ignored when she protested. And that was just Rebekah and Kol replenishing their closets from what Elijah had previously thrown out. Rebekah and Kol compelled staff to look away while they dressed in a single changing room together, and Elena, knowing her part well, ignored any sounds that may have resulted and played them off to passersby with varying excuses: "She's practicing accents;" "He's learning to throw his voice;" "Ventriloquy lesson."

Rebekah preferred to show her clothing off to Elena and get her commentary, while Kol steadfastly preferred to study himself in the mirrors provided, turning his head this way and that, smiling in his arrogant way when he was pleased with what he saw.

The bills the two of them racked up were astronomical - more than Elena would have ever dreamed.

"Right," Rebekah said after putting the surprisingly few bags in the limited space of the trunk. "There's the light shopping done."

Elena nearly groaned.

"Now you get to have real fun," Rebekah insisted to her. Kol nodded.

Elena had to admit that once she was in the middle of it, that "real fun" as Rebekah had phrased it, was actually enjoyable. Elena always ended up enjoying the times when Rebekah would dress her in formal wear. It wasn't like she was Rebekah's doll, rather, it was nice to have someone to share the experience with. She didn't have that with Caroline or Bonnie anymore, for the obvious reasons. And honestly, Rebekah had fantastic taste. Elena's prom dresses from her repeat of high school in Maine had been picked out with quiet concentration by Rebekah, as had her last formal dress for a soiree they'd attended shortly after arriving in England.

"What color are you thinking?" Rebekah asked Elena once they were inside a little shop that specialized in designer formal wear.

Elena gave Rebekah a look. "Does it even matter? You always insist I'm wrong."

"Just give me a color," Rebekah insisted.

Elena sighed and gave it some thought. Her last dresses had been periwinkle, coral, and a deep sapphire blue. (And then promptly thrown out by Rebekah afterwards.) "A dark purple," came her answer.

Rebekah smiled. "I think that will work nicely," she said.

For the next hour Elena was poked and prodded and zipped into one dress and out of another. The dresses, all dark purple in varying states of fanciness, were either too unflattering for Elena's liking or too casual for Rebekah's. Finally, one pulled met both Elena's and Rebekah's satisfaction. It gathered under her bust and then flowed down until it barely ghosted the floor. Elena especially liked the airy chiffon and the dark purple of it. It was understated and Elena felt very elegant.

"There just may be hope for you yet, Elena," Rebekah said as she studied Elena's dress-clad form with an expert eye.

"I pass muster then?" Elena asked sarcastically.

"I suppose," the other woman offered. She turned to the shop assistant. "We'll take this one."

After Elena drew the line at getting new shoes, insisting she had a pair that would do just as well at home, they were done.

()()()

Elena didn't see the point of making dinner such a big production. Her monthly dinners with Klaus were never so elaborate, especially when it was just the two of them in her little cottage. It was just dinner, not some ball that his family was throwing, and even if Elijah was finally home, Elena still didn't see the need for such a big fuss. She didn't think she'd ever completely understand how Klaus's mind worked - though for some things she had some very good ideas.

Since Rebekah still didn't have access to Elena's cottage, Elena dutifully got in the car sent to fetch her and her newly purchased gown and bring her to the manor proper. Elena rolled her eyes; it wasn't as though she couldn't walk. The estate was safe, what with the hybrids, who were instructed not to bother her unless she was in trouble, roaming about. The sky hadn't quite darkened yet, though it would by the time the five of them sat down to dine.

As soon as she was inside the manor, Rebekah rushed her and spirited her away up to her rooms. Then, Elena was made to sit as Rebekah played with her hair, braiding one way, and then another, before finally making up her mind as to what she wanted to do with it. The braids on either side of her face were partially pulled back with two jeweled clips and the rest was otherwise allowed to flow loosely down her back. Elena couldn't get a word in on the subject of make-up, either. Rebekah simply plowed through, instructing Elena to close her eyes, look upwards, suck in her cheeks, and everything else she could think of until Elena felt ridiculous. She was relieved when it was finally time to slip into the gown, get zipped up, and put on the strappy silver sandals she'd chosen.

The worst part was not being able to see herself after all of Rebekah's handiwork. Rebekah sped her out of the room with the mirror and started getting herself ready. Elena was left to wonder why Rebekah was taking such an interest in her; it was just one dinner. Less than half an hour later, Rebekah was gliding out to Elena, dressed in a dark blue taffeta gown; a mermaid style that clung to her body. Her hair was pulled up into an elaborate knot and her makeup was set to emphasize her lips. Then, with a glance at the clock, Rebekah walked Elena downstairs.

Kol was already waiting at the bottom of the stairs, looking handsome in a black suit with with a dark blue tie that matched Rebekah's dress, along with a dark blue pocket square. The effect was just as elegant as if he'd been wearing a tuxedo.

"You almost look like an adult," Elena teased as they reached the landing.

Kol looked her up and down after he'd finished giving Rebekah a long, appraising stare. "You don't," he said with a grin.

Elena sighed. "I have no idea what I look like," she said. "Rebekah wouldn't let me see."

Kol simply shook his head and said something to his sister in their language, one that Elena had yet to discern in the years she'd spent under their care. Rebekah replied and Elena was left to stand there, bemused.

"We'd better hurry before Klaus throws a fit," she reminded them.

The three of them departed for the formal dining room to find Elijah and Klaus already there, in suits similar to Kol's. They stood from their chairs when she, Rebekah, and Kol entered the room. Both were, she couldn't help noticing, looking very handsome. That she could think so about Klaus wasn't the issue. No, what stunned her was Elijah's face when he caught sight of her. She realized she'd only seen that expression on his face once - when he'd first seen her in the abandoned mansion, all tired and bloodstained. She'd been too frightened to properly notice at the time, but she remembered now. He looked at her as if she were a long lost treasure he'd never hoped to find again; as if she, suddenly, was now the sole focus of his life. It was unnerving. Had Rebekah and Kol been right?

"It's about time you finally showed up," Klaus drawled. He was dressed in unrelenting black, save for a flash of a dark purple waistcoat that almost matched Elena's dress perfectly. _How had Rebekah managed that? Why?_ Elena wondered. "Kol and Rebekah being late I can understand, a thousand years has done little to teach them manners, but I did expect better of you, Elena."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Well, between Rebekah primping and Kol making pithy conversation I can't understand, I can hardly be expected to be on time when I'm placed into their custody, now can I?"

Klaus laughed, and pulled out a seat for her left of the head of the table. Knowing it was pointless to argue that she'd rather sit beside anyone but him, she acquiesced. To her surprise, however, Elijah took the seat next to hers, rather than at the right of the head chair. His expression was guarded again, and Rebekah and Kol smirked as they too, took their seats, Kol pulling out Rebekah's chair opposite Elena.

"I hope this makes up for the dinner you had to miss last night," Klaus said to her.

Elena shrugged. "It wasn't that big a deal." And it wasn't; she'd had an interesting visit with Elijah instead.

"Do you join them often?" Elijah asked. His voice was light.

"One night every other month," Elena said.

"It's a set day?"

"Nearly," Klaus drawled. "Stick around long enough and you'll get the hang of our little schedule."

Elijah looked at Elena for confirmation and she nodded. The 'drop it,' she felt, was adequately implied.

"Enough of this boring talk; let's start dinner, shall we?" Klaus almost-asked; it was more of a mandate, really.

Elijah's expression was guarded as he nodded. "We shall."

The hybrids' hearing must have been sensitive because less than a minute later, they began bringing out the food. It was the silver service he liked to have every once in a while. Elena preferred to serve herself, but there was no budging Klaus from his airs unless the two of them were dinning in her cottage. He seemed to enjoy - and expect - the very best of everything, and Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah didn't seem to mind.

Dinner dragged on with a seemingly endless array of courses. From the choicest caviar to tartars and crisp salads topped with truffles and vinaigrette dressings, the food kept coming. Klaus had requested a steak for her, while he and the others had been served a salmon in some kind of delicate looking glaze. Her steak was medium rare, just how she'd become accustomed to having it cooked since she and Klaus had struck their deal. Dessert was comprised of an assortment of fruits topped with honeyed crumbles and for her, a molten chocolate cake - her favorite.

The conversation, to her surprise, was cordial and joking. Rebekah asked Elijah to recount the first time they'd dinned here with the local aristocracy. Elijah did so in good humor, recalling how Kol had slipped vervain in Rebekah's drink and she'd been forced to pretend to be unused to spirits in order to cover up her coughing fit. And how Klaus had flirted shamelessly with all three daughters, offending their irate father who made mention of a duel the next morning. Elijah had charmed over the man and his wife to diffuse the situation and Kol and Rebekah had found their playmates (and by playmates Elena knew he meant on-again, off-again snacks) for the rest of the summer. Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah, had interjected their commentary in places throughout his story and Elena couldn't help but laugh. Years ago she'd have been horrified, but her morality had completely shifted since then and she'd learned to take their sense of cruel, dark fun in stride. She couldn't be the same idealistic girl she'd been; her morals had been fraying since she'd met Stefan and Damon and learned about the supernatural; this was just her admitting it to herself and learning to be okay with it.

Elena was feeling as if she'd never need to eat again, she was so full. Elena wasn't surprised when Klaus announced it was time for her to be off and into bed; he was highhanded like that. Elijah offered to escort her back to her cottage, since she'd insisted on the exercise. "I can't believe I ate that much."

"I'll walk you back, if you're agreeable," Elijah said.

Elena nodded. "That would be nice." Ignoring Klaus's smirk, she took Elijah's offered arm and the two left.

After they listened to make sure the pair were out of the manor, Kol burst into laughter while Klaus tried to hold back his scowl and failed. "You shouldn't provoke him like that, Bekah," he said, sending her a dark look. "He's had a rather large shock."

"Or I could have my own fun for my own reasons," Rebekah said haughtily, ignoring the warning.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Kol enthused to no one in particular.


	6. Five

**Five**

* * *

The night air was cool for the recent weather; for more than a week Elena had been wary of wearing anything with sleeves. She hadn't realized she'd been shivering until Elijah draped his suit jacket over her shoulders. Elena wished that it was daylight so she could see him in such a state of undress; the one time she'd seen him thus had been in that man's apartment when he'd ripped the hearts out of the would-be kidnappers' chests. At the time she'd been too horrified that he'd found her, and confused that he'd stopped them from stealing her away to properly appreciate that he was so lax in his dress. She was curious to see if he'd look even two or three degrees more vulnerable.

"Thanks," she murmured.

"My pleasure," he said. He opened his mouth as if to continue, but then shut it.

"What is it?" Elena asked. They weren't walking directly back to her house, rather, they were taking a meandering path through the extensive gardens. Elena nearly giggled as she realized this was straight out of a trashy romance book she'd read once.

"You and Klaus were dressed to match," he commented.

Elena shrugged her head. "I think Rebekah matched him to me. Is it a big deal or something?" Was there a significance to it? It wasn't like prom where her date had shown up with a vest and bow tie that matched the color of her dress... or was it the adult version?

Elijah shook his head. "She was trying to goad a reaction out of me, I believe."

"Why would she do that?"

"Because she reads too much into things."

"What's she reading into?" Elena had meant to stop herself from asking, but the words slipped out.

His voice held a smile. "Her perception of my feelings as they pertain to Petrovas."

"Oh," Elena said. Unluckily for her, he'd be able to see her blush.

"You're different now," Elijah said.

"A lot of things are diff-" Elena started, but he cut her off.

"No, I mean from dinner. You're behaving differently now than you were at dinner. At dinner you were indifferent."

Elena shrugged. "Rebekah kept making it out to seem like such a big to-do and I was on edge; indifference helps hide my nervousness." She smiled wryly. "I still don't see the point of the grand dinner Klaus envisioned."

"It's like what was said at the ball back in Mystic Falls, when my family reunites, we can't help but indulge ourselves."

"Even if you'd not turn your back for fear of a dagger?"

Elijah laughed softly. "Yes."

"How can you live like that? How can you live with a family you can't trust?"

"How can you?" he asked archly.

"Klaus and I have to trust each other," Elena said. "And our deal ensures that Kol and Rebekah have to trust us."

"Ah, yes, your deal."

"I like deals," Elena reminded him. "Remember?"

"I do. And I assume I'm roped into this deal as well?"

Elena nodded. "You were counted as a loved one."

"What were the terms, Elena?"

Elena shook her head and stepped away from him. "No."

"This deal you've struck affects my life, Elena. I deserve to know."

"I can't tell you, Elijah," Elena said. She could feel the tell-tale prickles of the magic sweeping along her skin. She didn't like this subject.

"You can't tell me or won't tell me?"

"Pick one," Elena said evenly.

"I thought we'd moved beyond dishonesty, Elena." Elijah said icily.

"There's more at stake than your pride," Elena answered, her voice just as cold. "Klaus and I aren't going to-"

"Klaus and I?" Elijah snorted. "The two of you are as thick of thieves now."

"Because we trust each other!"

"And you no longer trust me?"

Elena slowly shook her head. "I don't know if I can and right now it's not a risk I'm willing to take."

"I could make you tell me," he said lightly.

"No, you couldn't. You'd have to harm me and the magic won't let you."

"I was able to harm Klaus last night," Elijah said neutrally.

Elena couldn't help but smirk. "The magic protects him differently. You're less likely to be able to cause lasting harm to him. Me, on the other hand..." she let her explanation trail off.

"I don't like this, Elena," he said finally.

"I don't care."

Elijah moved to join her by the fountain and turned her to face him. He looked deep into her eyes, intently searching for something there. "What has happened to you, lovely Elena?" he asked sadly.

"Nothing I wasn't willing to endure," she said quietly. It was a hard truth, one she woke with every morning and went to bed with every night. And she'd face it all over again if she was given a second chance. The risk, she knew, was worth the eventual reward.

To her surprise, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "I trust you know what you are doing," he said finally.

Elena nodded. "I do," she said. "I know the deal I made."

He looked away, his gaze studying the night sky. When he finally turned back to her, he smiled. "I didn't tell you how lovely you look tonight."

Elena blushed. She was also grateful that he'd dropped the subject of her deal with Klaus. If there was anyone who'd be able to get her to drop her defenses about it, it was Elijah, and she couldn't let that happen. "Thanks," she said. "It was Rebekah's doing; I still don't know how I look." At Elijah's questioning look, she clarified, "I wasn't allowed to see a mirror."

Elijah rolled his eyes. "Is this a common habit for her?"

"No," she said. "The past few times she's done me up I was allowed to see - prom, and a soiree we attended when we first moved here. This is the first time she's been so secretive."

"She probably knew you'd dagger her again if you knew," he said quietly.

"Knew what?" she asked. "What did she do? Even Kol said something."

Elijah hesitated and Elena had a sense of unease. "Your hair, Elena. Save for the clips, it's how Tatia preferred to wear it. Your make-up gives you a younger appearance."

Elena felt her heart plummet into her stomach. Now she knew why Elijah had stared at her so, had seemed so taken with her that evening. "Wh-why would she do that?"

"To anger me," Elijah said, deciding to leave out how it had angered Klaus as well, juding from the dark looks he'd seen in his brother's eyes during dinner. "Rebekah knows that when I look at you, I do not see the others, but you. For all that you share the same face, you are not your predecessors, and I know this. Rebekah knows my feelings on the matter and she sought to anger me."

"Is it the clothes thing?" Elena asked weakly. He _did_ see her. But he'd called her lovely, hadn't he?

Elijah bit back a grin. "No, it goes far beyond the clothes issue," he said. "This dates back a long, long time."

"And I'm just caught in the middle?"

Elijah nodded. "As always."

They continued back to her cottage, conversation not flowing as freely as they'd both hoped. Elena was processing what Elijah had said about Rebekah and her quest to present Elena as Tatia. Why would Rebekah go through all the trouble? Just to make Elijah angry? For what purpose? Why spend the energy? Granted, Rebekah had an ability to carry a grudge the likes of which Elena had never seen, but she still didn't get it.

Elijah, for his part, was inwardly seething at himself, his sister, and the entire situation. He'd cared for Tatia, yes. Enjoyed her attentions, yes. But not to the extent Klaus had - Klaus had been smitten, had grieved her death the hardest, had shut himself off to any chance of caring for Katerina, and later, Elena. Elijah had made the mistake of caring for Katerina, in a different way than he had Tatia, and he'd paid the price. He and Klaus had never been as close afterwards. There'd been hundreds of years of ill-will between them ever since. Elena was different, he'd known as soon as she'd negotiated her deal with him up in her bedroom that day. Elijah hadn't been lying, when he looked at her, he didn't see the others, he saw her, for she'd made an impression on him that only she could manage. And he was sure that even though he'd said as much, in his circumspect way, Elena hadn't quite believed him.

When they finally reached her cottage, Elena turned to face him as she opened the door. "Thanks for walking me home."

"You're welcome," he said. "I see you prefer the matter dropped, but I will say this: this deal you've struck with Klaus, I'm trusting you."

Elena felt the weight of it sink over her. "Here's hoping it stays that way." The coming months - years, really, would certainly test that trust.

"Good night, Elena." He bowed and kisssed her hand.

"Good night," she said.

()()()

Rebekah was waiting up in her suite of rooms, smiling smugly as Elijah came and then rushed her to the wall. He had her pinned by her neck and she rolled her eyes. "What's the matter, Elijah," she asked. "Didn't enjoy dinner?"

"You know my feelings on the matter," he said coldly.

"And they're wrong."

"Elena is not Tatia. She is not Katerina."

"She may as well be," Rebekah said airily as Elijah let her down. "You've only fallen for one after the other."

"With the way you view them it's no wonder that none of them have wanted to be your friend," he snapped.

Rebekah flinched as if he'd struck her.

"Stay out of it," he ordered. "Elena is her own person, just as the other two were. You should know that after spending so much time with her."

"I'm well-aware of who Elena is," Rebekah said finally. "I'm just glad to see that you know it too." She turned her back on him and went to pull out a dressing gown. "You can see yourself out," she said without looking back.

Thoroughly confused at his sister's rapid change in mood, Elijah left.

()()()

"It's so refreshing to see you in a foul mood, Brother," Klaus drawled. He was insolently sprawled out on a throne-like chair in front of the lit fireplace of the private family drawing room. His jacket was thrown haphazardly over the back and his dark purple waistcoat was unbuttoned, along with the top few buttons of the black shirt he wore.

"And why is that?" Elijah asked lightly. He took the other seat by the fire. It was less grand than the chair Klaus occupied, but Elijah made it seem infinitely more elegant. His posture was positively regal and Klaus had a sudden flashback to a time when both of them were in breeches with topcoats of superfine wool and cravats.

"Because it's so rare to see you actually showing emotion like the rest of us lowly heathens," he said. He reached down and picked up a bowled glass with a long stem and held it up to his nose, sniffing the aroma of the red liquid inside. "Care for a night cap?" he offered.

Elijah shook his head. "I'm surprised you didn't snap Rebekah's neck for that stunt she pulled."

Klaus's mouth twisted into a smile that held little mirth. "Oh, she'll pay for it sooner or later."

"She failed somewhat, I believe."

"Mmm," came Klaus's noncommittal tone.

"Elena has a hardness to her, an edge of determination that Tatia never had," Elijah continued.

"Are you quite finished?" Klaus asked.

"Of course," Elijah said. "I was merely-"

"If you're worried about-" after interrupting, Klaus stopped himself abruptly, realization dawning. "No, I know what you're doing. You're trying to get me to let my guard down, hoping to open me up, all in the desire for me to talk about the agreement I have with the doppelgänger. It's none of your concern."

Elijah didn't bother to deny it. "Anything that has the potential to end my life or those of my siblings is my concern, Niklaus."

"And in this case you're just going to have to get over it, I'm afraid." Klaus's jovial expression hardened. "She's not going anywhere." He gave a harsh laugh. "It's not like I'm using her to break the curse again. She is the safest being on this planet, aside from myself."

Elijah didn't share his sense of ease. "You have her trapped."

Klaus snorted. "We have each other trapped," he clarified. "And you've no idea how it pains me to admit it."

Elijah smirked at that. "I can see that it does."

"Lighten up, Elijah. Enjoy yourself. Our family is together at last."

"And Elena is along for the ride?"

Klaus grinned. "It's a fun ride." He threw a leg over the arm of the chair and tipped back the glass, indulging in a long drink.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Elijah said finally. "For all our sakes."

"What's life without a nice game of Russian Roullette?" At Elijah's narrowed eyes he laughed. "I know exactly what I'm doing, Brother. And so does Elena. You just need to learn how to not be at the center of it all."

"Very well," Elijah said. "The center is yours." He went to leave the room. As he was about to walk out the door, Klaus's voice stopped him, apparently having read Elijah's thoughts.

"Just so you know, no one from Mystic Falls will be able to speak to you. For all intents and purposes, we don't exist."

Elijah bit back a curse, and took his leave.

()()()

It was well past one in the morning and Elena found herself unable to sleep. Her mind was racing with thoughts of the dinner, of her deal, Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah, Tatia, Katherine, and everyone home in Mystic Falls. When she'd first left Mystic Falls, landing with the Originals in a small town in Maine, she'd thought of everyone often. And as she'd immersed herself in school and life as Elena Masters, those constant thoughts of home had gradually faded. She'd checked her old Facebook less and less, stopped visiting the online newspaper forum, and instead found herself checking her new Facebook and reading the local newspaper forums and making plans with the new friends she'd made.

Sometimes Elena had self-loathing pity parties for not worrying about Mystic Falls every five minutes, for going days, weeks, months, without turning her thoughts back to the life she had, the people she left behind. She'd _had_ to do it; she'd had to keep them safe and her leaving without a trace had been the only way. There wasn't any point in dwelling on the matter. To care for them, for all of them, she had to be selfish and shut herself off.

With a sigh, Elena reached under her bed for her laptop and woke it from its sleep. She smiled at the familiar start up sound and once it was awake and connected to the wi-fi, she logged onto the Facebook of Elena Masters. Browsing the main page, Elena learned Julie from 3rd period history was expecting with her high school sweetheart Tom from 6th period gym. Band nerds Rosa, Effie, and Drew were all preparing to live together for their upcoming year of college at the same school. Covington High's former resident stoner king Louis was asserting that 'no one can hold me down.' There were no new messages from any of her friends, and one or two friend requests from some students she'd met at university. Elena grimaced. It had been a few week's time since she'd contacted any of them.

Against her better judgement, she logged out and then logged into Elena Gilbert. There were pictures of the latest Founders Event, clean-up efforts in the park. Jeremy posted a picture of himself and his fellow baseball players after a training practice. Matt Donovan posted he "hates Wednesday night happy hour so hard." Scrolling down, Elena felt a wave of melancholy as she saw that those still home, safe, were living their lives, getting back to normal. She was notified that there was a new story and she scrolled up. "HE FINALLY ASKED! I SAID YES!" Caroline had posted, complete with a picture of a diamond ring on her finger and a picture of her and Tyler hugging and smiling. Another picture had Bonnie beaming, lifting a glass in toast as Tyler and Caroline stood right next to her. Elena couldn't stop the tears from welling up. She was so happy for her friends, and so sad that she couldn't be there to support them and congratulate them through such major life events. "It's about time," Elena whispered to herself, as yet another photo of Caroline and Tyler, this time kissing, was shared.

Shaking her head, she logged out, ignoring the inbox that reminded her she had hundreds of unread messages, shut her computer off, put it on her bedside table, and focused on getting to sleep.


	7. Six

**Chapter Six**

* * *

Elena planned to avoid everyone for a few days following the elaborate dinner. 

It didn't work out.

()()()

She hadn't slept well the night of the dinner; she'd tossed and turned until she'd wake up to find herself tangled the in Egyptian cotton sheets, her pillows and duvet on the floor. Then she'd right everything, go back to sleep, and the process would start all over again. Morning was a relief to Elena; she showered again, in part to ensure that her appearance from the night before was eradicated.

When she'd looked at herself in her mirror upon arriving home, she'd been stunned at how young she'd looked, how... _different_. She'd felt like another person and it had made her want to break the mirror with one good punch. She'd wanted to storm over to the manor and snap Rebekah's neck. The person who'd looked back at her, all wide-eyed and innocent, wasn't her. Elena wasn't that girl, couldn't really remember a time when she'd been that girl. Elena supposed she had to have been once upon a time, maybe before her parents had died and the supernatural had ruined her life over and over again. But she'd never been Tatia, just as she'd never been Katherine. The implication that she couldn't be her own person stung, even after all these years.

She threw herself into the rest of her morning routine, deciding to go on her run after all; she needed the exercise to vent her frustration. She could always take another shower, she'd reasoned. A good hour after she'd taken off, on a circuit around the estate, she walked around for nearly ten minutes, stretching and cooling down in the process. She dragged herself inside for another shower, before making a quick breakfast and destroying a few cups of coffee.

It was months away, but Elena was ready for term break to be over; she wanted school to start back up; it meant she could occupy her time and not worry over how suddenly things had seemed to be uprighted. She'd missed Elijah, sure. She'd wondered if he'd ever show up during her tenure with Klaus, but the reality was proving to be bothersome. It wasn't that she was unhappy to see him, more that she was wary of any digging he might do and the permanent harm that it could cause. With a sigh, she rinsed out her mug, refilled the water tank on her Keurig, and went upstairs to grab a book.

Her phone had a message waiting for her from Rebekah. _Want to swim?_ Elena rolled her eyes and texted back. _No._ Then she shut her phone down to halt any persistent texts from the other girl as was her habit, not caring that it would inevitably piss Klaus off. She selected a thriller mystery, _A Deadly Storm_ , grabbed her sunglasses and sun hat, and went to go lay outside and read.

She'd secured a few hours of peace to herself before Klaus showed up. She spared him a glance and turned back to her book, which was little more than halfway done.

"Care to explain?" he asked lightly.

"I said 'no' to your sister," she said.

That was all the explanation that he needed. "It's been hours. Turn it back on."

With a roll of her eyes, Elena did so, then put the phone back on the table by her lounge chair and went back to her book. To her annoyance, Klaus decided to ignore her hint and occupy the other lounge chair. He heaved a theatrical sigh.

"Lovely day, isn't it?" he asked.

Elena said nothing, preferring to concentrate on her book; it was getting really good.

"Hardly a cloud in the sky," he continued.

Again, nothing.

"And have you ever seen it so blue?"

"What are you wanting?" Elena finally asked, marking her spot and putting her book down so she could give him the attention he, like a small bratty child, so desperately wanted.

"How was your escort home?" he asked. "Just between us girls, of course."

"It was fine," she said mockingly. "Since, you know, it's just between us girls."

"Did he cause any problems?" he was more serious this time.

"He wanted to know about the deal again," she said. "He's not happy that he doesn't get to know the full of it."

"I gathered as much from his little display of surliness when he came back home," Klaus said. "He'll get over it eventually. We just need to distract him." He gave her a speculative look. "You shouldn't have a problem with that, of course."

"Me?" Elena said incredulously. "You think it's my job to distract him?"

"Well, I suppose I could try to distract him myself, but I doubt he'd have as much fun than if it were you," he said with a smirk. "Hell knows he could do with a good riding."

Elena was just shy of sputtering with outrage. "A good riding?"

"You could use one yourself," he continued. "Since we both know you'll not let me assist you with that."

Elena glared at him. "It was just the one time," she muttered. "And you know it."

"What has got you so bothered today?" he asked, amused. "Was it Rebekah's little prank last night?"

Elena shook her head. "It was hilarious," she said sarcastically. "Actually I checked up on Mystic Falls," she admitted. "I haven't done it in months and I couldn't stop myself."

"And how are the sorry insects you've given up your life for?" he asked. "Lots of drama?"

Elena shrugged. "Just the usual stuff," she said. "Complaints about jobs, college classes, sports teams. Occasionally there's an engagment announcement thrown in." She didn't say who it was; she didn't need to deal with that particular tantrum. Klaus opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off. "I knew what I was giving up," she said. "And I'm glad I went through with it. Maybe one day I'll kick this sorry 'feeling sad' habit."

Klaus eyed her, and Elena couldn't quite place his expression. "They'll never be able to comprehend the lengths you've gone to keep them safe. No one is deserving of that kind of sacrifice."

"That's the difference between me and you," Elena said finally. "I don't expect anything in return for what I've done. You would."

"I can't argue with that," he admitted easily, and then smiled. "I do enjoy our little moments, Elena."

Her eyes narrowed. "This was not 'a moment,' Klaus. We don't have moments."

"If that's what helps you sleep at night," he said blithely.

She rolled her eyes. "Isn't there anyone else you can bother?"

With a grin, Klaus nodded. "I actually do have to leave. I have an engagement this evening I must prepare for," he said. "It seems one of the locals is quite taken with me."

"And we both know you can't resist that."

"Who am I to deny her what she wants?" Klaus asked. "Everyone's entitled to a little fun every now and again."

"Go have it," Elena said. "I won't be waiting up."

"You wound me," he parried. "Enjoy your book."

Relieved he was finally leaving, she nodded and picked her book back up, needing to read and find out just why the bad guys were doing what they were doing and how the super spy was going to prevail. Thankfully she was left alone for the rest of the day. She'd just finished her book when she finally realized she was starving for dinner and went back inside to her little cottage.

()()()

Dinner was supposed to have been a peaceful little affair after the elaborate farce the night before. She took great pleasure in wearing a comfy pair of pajamas and doing little more than throwing her hair into a messy bun. She didn't have to worry about putting on the ridiculous airs that dinner over at the manor always seemed to require.

She rummaged through her cupboards, refrigerator, and deep freezer several times, frowning when she finally admitted to herself that there was nothing she felt like cooking. She could have called up to the manor to have a hybrid cook something she enjoyed and bring it down to her, but Elena was loathe to use the servants Klaus enjoyed controlling like soulless puppets. This left the take-away menus she had stored in a drawer by the landline phone. She eyed the menus once she took them out. She ruled out Italian; she'd had it two weeks ago. She wasn't sure her stomach could handle the spicy Thai food, so it too was eliminated. The local Chinese place was delicious, but so was the new sushi place that through the grace of the cosmos saw fit to deliver.

Elena finally decided on the sushi place. She'd not been keen on the idea until Kol had dragged her to a hole-in-wall sushi bar in Maine and convinced her to try a sampling. She'd been hooked on it since.

She placed the call, ordering two spicy dragon and two tiger rolls from the sushi bar. Then she called up to the manor to let the hybrid who monitored comings and goings at the estate entrance know that she'd have a food delivery coming.

Whenever Elena ordered out, the delivery people were never allowed near her cottage. They were greeted at the gate to the estate and then vetted by one of the hybrid guards, who would pay them and then dispatch another hybrid to deliver the food to Elena. Elena had argued furiously with Klaus about the matter but in the end she'd realized it was a battle she just wasn't going to win. Klaus didn't want strange humans on the estate.

Elena grabbed a lightweight robe and brought it downstairs with her; whatever hybrid was on delivery duty tonight didn't need to see her in her summer pjs. She browsed through her dvd and tv collections to see if there was anything she cared to watch; she didn't follow anything live. She finally settled on Ghostbusters and popped it into the player and quickly skipped the menu to hit play, before immediately pausing it. Elena grabbed a bottle of wine out of the wine fridge and poured herself a healthy glass.

She was twenty minutes into the movie when there came a knock at her door. Elena paused the movie and went to go and fetch her food, completely forgetting her robe thrown over a chair. Then she heard the door open and stopped. The hybrids knew not to open her door. Klaus would never bother with such a mundane task as delivering her food unless it was donation day. And Mrs. Wick, her housekeeper, only visited during the day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That left...

Elijah was standing in her house, holding her take out. "Your food is here," he said with a smile.

"You just came into my house?" she asked, frowning.

"You invited me in," he pointed out. "Only a couple of nights ago."

"And that just gives you the right to barge in whenever you want?"

"I hardly barged in, Elena," Elijah said. "And this house is-"

"In my name. It was signed over to me. Utilities and taxes come from a trust fund signed over to me. Don't even try to play that card."

"I was unaware I could not enter. I am used to coming and going as I please when I'm granted entry to a house."

"This is my safe space," Elena said. "This is the one place I know I can be alone and be myself. Even Klaus only comes over once in a while."

"My apologies," he said finally. He didn't look happy. "I noticed a hybrid bringing food over and I was suspicious."

Elena, taking the food from him and moving into her kitchen to grab a plate, filled him in on the food delivery situation. "There's something you need to understand," He looked at her, giving her his full attention. "I'm safe here," she said. She pulled a set of hard plastic chopsticks from a drawer after judiciously setting one roll of each on the plate, along with some wasabi. "Not just in this house, but this situation. No one is going to harm me, least of all a hybrid. For the past few years, I haven't had to look over my shoulder, and I haven't had to wonder if I was going to live to see another day. That's all behind me now. I appreciate your concern, but I'm safe. I don't need a protector. You used to understand that." She could see that she'd hit her mark.

"I'm afraid this entire situation is still foreign to me, Elena." He followed her to the living room.

"And that's just something you're going to have to deal with," she said, not entirely without sympathy.

"This is an interesting development," he said finally. "I'm starting to a whole new side to Elena Gilbert."

"Elena Gilbert is gone," she said. "She went away when she made a deal with Klaus." It had come out far harsher than she'd meant.

Elijah nodded. "I'll leave you to your dinner," he said politely. He turned to leave.

"Listen, I- Do you want to stay?" Elena asked. She wouldn't mind the company, really. There were just boundaries that needed to be set. "I have a movie playing."

He turned to face her with genuine curiosity. "What movie?"

"Ghostbusters," she answered. "It was my favorite movie, back before all the vampire stuff happened. Matt and I used to watch it over and over. Finally Bonnie and Caroline instituted "once a year" viewing policy. They'd only watch it once a year because they were so sick of it. "

"That's the one with the giant tire man, right?"

"Stay Puft Marshmallow man," Elena corrected. "You haven't seen it?" Her voice was so incredulous he nearly grinned as he shook his head.

"You're already into it, I can see."

"I don't mind starting from the beginning again," she said instantly. "Really. And I have wine."

"Well," he said with a small tilt of his head. "If there's wine."

With a smile and plate balanced on one hand, Elena led him over to the couch, exchanged her plate for the half-empty wine glass on the table, and swept away into the kitchen. When she came back with two full glasses - hers designated with a decorative charm around the stem - Elijah had made himself comfortable. His tie was loosened and his jacket was folded nearly over a chair. Elena forced herself not to stare, and pointedly ignored Klaus's voice in the back of her head insisting that both she and Elijah were in need of 'a good ride.'

"I must say this is a better way of spending an evening than sitting and visiting with Klaus," Elijah said as he accepted the offered wine glass. "Questionable entertainment selection aside."

"It's a good movie," Elena insisted. "And I bet you're kind of upset that Klaus ditched you."

"He didn't 'ditch' me," came Elijah's stiff reply. "He had a previous engagement with a local woman."

"He ditched you."

"You're not upset?"

Elena frowned. "At what? You two not having pillow fights and braiding each other's hair?"

"Klaus will inevitably kill the woman he's with. Surely you take some issue with that." He wasn't looking at her, instead swirling the wine around carefully, studying the color and sniffing ever so slightly.

"He won't kill her," Elena said with a shrug.

"Interesting," he mused. "Shall we begin?"

Elena rolled her eyes, restarted the movie, and grabbed her plate.

Elena never heard him laugh out loud. He would snort in amusement at times and several times she looked over to see a wide smile on his face as the watched the movie. Elena, who knew the movie almost by heart thanks to continuous rewatches with Matt, was content to watch casually while eating her food. She even got up without pausing the movie to refill her plate with the rest of the sushi.

She offered Elijah a piece of a roll and he accepted without taking his gaze away from the screen. The two watched in companionable silence - punctuated by Elena's laughter at her favorite lines - and finished the food. Elena set the plate down, drank the last of her wine, and sat back for the last thirty minutes of the movie.

()()()

Elijah looked over at Elena as the credits started to roll, planning to tell her she indeed had picked a good movie, only to see that she was fast asleep. He frowned and stood up. It wasn't even 10pm. He thought about waking her, but decided that she probably needed the rest. He also contemplated carrying her up to her no doubt more comfortable bed, before recalling how upset she'd been at his casual entry into her home. He instead opted to adjust her on the couch so that she'd be more comfortable and spread a blanket over her.

Pleased with his evening, he penned her a quick note and showed himself out.


	8. Seven

**Chapter 7**

* * *

A god-awful cramp in her neck and back woke Elena up. She had to take a few moments to suss out why she had the sensation when she'd learned not to sleep on the... She was on the couch, not in her bed. She sat up, trying to recall what had happened the night prior. She remembered the movie and how she'd convinced Elijah to watch it with her. She'd had dinner - which he'd intercepted from a hybrid and brought over, entering her house of his own accord. There'd been wine. Not enough to do anything to either of them, save sending an already tired Elena into a slumber so deep she'd crashed on the couch. She didn't remember Elijah leaving, she realized, so it had to have been after she'd fallen asleep.

She did her best to relieve the pressure in her neck and back as she stood. Glad no one was around to see or hear, she gave and undulating top to bottom wave of her body and both heard and felt the satisfying popping all the way down. She couldn't help but smile as she remembered the first time her parents and Jeremy had been made aware of that particular ability of hers; they'd been kind of horrified and her father, the doctor, had dragged Elena to his practice to make sure she didn't have some kind of injury. When she finally righted herself, she noticed the note laying on the coffee table.

_Thank you for the pleasure of your company this evening. I enjoyed myself and I hope you did as well. I'd like to do this again sometime, if you're agreeable._

_Elijah_

Elena grinned. She was starting to think that maybe it could work out, having Elijah around. If he could get over his ire that he wasn't privy to what was, when it was all boiled down, the most important deal in the scope of the supernatural, then perhaps Elena's remaining years in Klaus's care wouldn't be so... well, boring. It could also be interesting to see how their interactions would go without a deal between them, when they could just be themselves.

She gathered up her plate and the empty wine glasses from the night before, and went into the kitchen. Looking at the clock on her stove, it was only 5:30 in the morning - too early for breakfast, at least for her. She thought about maybe making an early day of it and being productive - then she decided against it. She rinsed out the wine glasses, rinsed the plate, and left all three in the sink to be dealt with later... The housekeeper would be in today.

She went up to her bedroom, set her alarm to go off at 9:30 later that morning, and went back to sleep, grateful that this time, she wouldn't have to worry about back and neck issues.

She slept through her alarm and didn't wake until noon.

()()()

Klaus and Elijah were locked in what was shaping up to be an intense chess game. They'd been playing for what seemed like an eternity.

"You've improved," Elijah said. Klaus had just taken his last rook.

"I have," Klaus allowed. "I've found that it is an interesting game, once one understands the complexities."

Elijah have a non-committal "hmm" and studied the board, eyes searching for any kind of weak spot.

"For example," Klaus continued, picking up one of Elijah's black pawns that he'd captured. "The pawn. Such an insignificant piece, so easily sacrificed for a goal not its own. But if it moves around just right, it can, in the end, become a queen."

"It's nice to see you've gained some culture outside your painted ponies," Elijah said with a smirk. He gazed over the board once more and moved his knight to E4. Klaus didn't see the significance, he could tell.

There was a knock at the door and both men looked up as Elena approached them. She was outfitted in a light green sundress with a lightweight white cardigan. She wore brown leather sandals and her hair drawn back into a braid. The ever-present blood red stone set in it's silver band graced her finger.

"Elena, this is a surprise," Klaus acknowledged. Elena rarely came over to the manor.

"A pleasant one," Elijah added with a smile.

"I was hoping to go into town today, to the bookstore. I've read everything I have."

Klaus sat back. "Why can't you order from that magical Internet of yours?" he asked.

"Because I want to go into town," Elena said simply. "I'll take a hybrid like I always do."

Klaus remained silent, mulling it over in his head. "Take Elijah," he finally said.

"I don't need Elijah," Elena said.

Elijah tried not to be offended at that. She wasn't objecting to him personally, just the thought that she needed him to protect her.

"And yet you're only leaving if he's with you," Klaus said with a satisfied smile, at last moving his rook three squares and taking a pawn.

"I promise not to hover," Elijah said, mostly to Elena.

Elena looked at him, obviously not happy with this turn of events. "I'm driving," she said.

"No, you're not!" Klaus exclaimed at the same time Elijah conceded, "As you wish."

Casting a smug smile over at Klaus, Elena left. Clearly, Elijah was meant to follow her.

Before he left, he looked at the board once more. _There_. He moved his bishop to block Klaus's king, leaving the prize piece trapped by a knight and a pawn. "Check mate," he said simply.

Klaus looked at the board for long moments after Elijah had left to escort Elena into town. "You have no idea," he said aloud.

()()()

"What do you think Klaus is playing at?" Elijah asked.

"Huh?" Elena asked absently after a few minutes. She was focused on the road and the traffic around her.

"Why was he so insistent on my escorting you when in past he's been content to send a hybrid?"

Elena shrugged. "I wouldn't put too much thought into it. Klaus has moods and I've found that it's best to just go along with them."

There it was, that unsettling reminder that Klaus and Elena were more familiar with each other than Elijah was comfortable with. He wanted to ask what she meant and realizing that it'd be seen as pushing, instead asked, "Did you sleep well?"

"I did. Just do me a favor next time and take me to bed."

Elijah glanced over at her sharply.

"Not like that," she said, feeling her face flush. "I mean, I- Don't leave me on the couch. It's hell to wake up on."

"I was trying to respect your wishes," he said. "Since I'd already upset you."

Elena determinedly kept her eyes on the road. "Thank you," she said finally. "But please, next time, you have my permission."

"Your couch makes for a painful night's sleep? It's comfortable enough for sitting."

"It's not painful, just uncomfortable," she said slowly. "I've only made the mistake of sleeping on it once before last night."

"I'll remember that in case there is a next time," he agreed.

"I'm sorry you got stuck on Doppelgänger Duty," she said after a few moments of silence. They were almost at the bookstore. Elena had to stop at a light and wait for a gaggle of pedestrians to cross.

"It's hardly a burden, Elena," Elijah said.

"There are probably loads of other things you'd rather be doing."

"As it happens, I've read all of my books as well."

Elena was still laughing softly as she parked the car. The pair of them walked down the crowded sidewalk of the busy street to the bookstore that Elena favored.

Elena smiled at the bell that rang as the door opened. Everything about the store reminded her of the bookshop in _Beauty and the Beast_. She remembered clearly how delighted she'd been to see the rolling ladder along a huge shelf of books, remembered how her breath had caught when the owner, Benoît, had greeted her with a lilting "bonjour." It was quaint and magical and Elena adored the place. The idea of purchasing books online was abhorrent when she could buy them from this shop.

"I love this place," Elena said to Elijah. She breathed deeply. "Absolutely love it."

"I can see why," Elijah said. "I'll be in the history section."

Elena nodded and sauntered up to the counter, where Benoît waiting patiently for her. "Did you enjoy the books?" he asked. He was in his early thirties, with dark wavy hair and a goatee.

"I did!" she enthused. "That Rick Castle, he's good! Do you have the other Derrick Storm books?"

He grinned and pulled out three more books - the next two in the trilogy and a fourth novel. Elena nearly squealed in delight. "I have the others on order." He pulled out another set of books. "His latest series, in case you're interested." Elena nodded. He gave her his own brief, spoiler-free assessment of the books and Elena listened with rapt attention - partly from the description of the book and partly from his accent.

She opened the first, _Heat Wave_ , and stroked the dedication page lovingly.

"Who is your companion?" Benoît asked. "He tries to stare a hole through me."

Elena glanced around to see Elijah pulling a book from the corner of the store where the history books were arranged. "That's Elijah. It's his family I live with. He came home from business." It wasn't entirely false.

"He has quite the presence," he said diplomatically.

Elena smirked. "He always has since I've known him."

Benoît eyed her speculatively and she cut him off before he could say anything else. "We're friends," she said, voice firm, remembering with a sinking feeling that Elijah would hear anything said in such a small space as the store. Benoît looked skeptical. "Of course, Mademoiselle," he finally said.

Elijah took that opportunity to walk over, carrying three books - history books, designated with the dark green bookmarks from that section - along with a fourth book sporting a silver bookmark, classifying it as a thriller. Elena arched an eyebrow at him. "A thriller? I'm impressed."

Elijah gave her a half-smirk as he set his books on the counter next to hers. "I have layers."

Elena couldn't help it; she laughed.

Elijah looked at Benoît who looked dumbfounded for a few seconds before recovering brilliantly. He pulled a credit card from his wallet. "Put them all on my card," he instructed. Then he turned to Elena as if gauge her protest. To his surprise, Elena didn't seem bothered. In fact, she looked as if she'd been expecting it. Not wanting, just expecting. Interesting. "Will you be needing these bookmarks back?" he asked the man.

Benoît shook his head. "They're complimentary," he said, offering the receipt for Elijah to sign.

Elijah nodded as he signed his signature and took his copy of the receipt. "Thank you," he said politely.

"It was my pleasure."

Elijah escorted Elena out of the store, who turned back and called a cheerful "Goodbye!"

"That was an abrupt exit," she remarked as they walked away from the bookstore towards the car.

Elijah said nothing.

"You don't like him, do you?" she asked with smiling eyes.

"I don't know him well enough to like or dislike him."

"I like him," Elena said. "Benoît and his partner Jacques are very nice. And they have an adorable four year old girl named Julianne who insists that she should be five by now and will be a doctor." She glanced over at Elijah as she unlocked the car. He appeared taken aback. "I'm allowed to have friends, Elijah," she said teasingly. "Klaus doesn't have a problem with him or the few friends I have in this life."

"And if your interest turned romantic?" Elijah inquired, settling in and fastening his seat belt.

Elena shrugged. "I'm pretty sure Benoît is out of the running. And I can date humans if I want."

"Does Klaus hope for the line to be continued through you?"

Elena heaved a sigh and shot him a glare. "If the line continues, it continues. I don't actively try to affect it either way and Klaus can't force me to. As it stands, I don't have an interest in dating a human. There's too many secrets involved."

"I see," Elijah said.

"Was there anywhere else you wanted to stop?" she asked, maneuvering the car into the flow of traffic after a lull.

Elijah snorted. "No, but thank you for the offer to play chauffer."

Elena cast a teasing glance his way. "I have layers."

()()()

"Elijah, did you enjoy your trip?" Klaus asked him mockingly.

"I picked up a few books."

"And how many of those books have you written?"

Elijah smirked. "Only two."

Klaus shook his head. "I still don't understand why you buy your own books."

"Morbid curiosity forces me to check back years later and see if I'm as talented as I thought I was at the time."

"I see," Klaus said. "How is Benoît?"

Elijah scowled. "Why is everyone so obsessed with that man?"

Klaus shrugged. "He's charming, cultured, utterly harmless. When we first arrived here, Elena was rather depressed. When she met him and learned about his book shop, her spirits took an upturn."

"And you approve of all her friends?"

"Well, since we've left the toxic mess that is Mystic Falls, I've found no fault in most people she's met and cared to speak to more than once."

"What of her friends back in Mystic Falls?"

"They're safe from me."

"Wasn't there one of them you were taken with?"

Klaus scowled. "She wasn't interested."

Elijah smirked. "I can't imagine why," he said lightly. "You're so charming and reasonable."

"It's no matter," Klaus said. "I have plenty of entertainment here." He tilted his head, considering something. "I had plenty of entertainment back in Maine, too."

"And you can't kill them?"

Klaus smiled ruefully. "Unless they try to harm myself, mine, or Elena, they remain safe."

"A far cry from the old days," Elijah observed. _Klaus not killing indiscriminately? He had a hard time believing it._

"We've never claimed to be good people, Elijah."

"No," Elijah admitted with a thin smile. "We have not."

"Stop worrying so much. She can take care of herself."

"She's nothing if not resourceful." He couldnt bring himself to trust Klaus fully, yet.

Klaus grinned. "Indeed."

()()()

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The back-popping thing is something my little sister's friend can do. It's wicked sounding.


	9. Eight

**Chapter Eight**

* * *

Summer continued in a gradually relaxing fashion.

Elijah, for the most part, seemed to accept that he wouldn't be privy to Elena and Klaus's deal and Elena was grateful to not feel as if she needed to walk around broken glass around him. He stopped asking questions aimed at crumbling the walls Elena and Klaus had erected out of the need to protect themselves and their loved ones. 

Instead, the questions were replaced by companionship and Elena found herself looking forward to the nights he'd show up and they'd talk or watch a movie. Some nights he swept her away to dinner at the sushi place and other nights he joined her as she fumbled her way through cooking a variety of new and old favorites. They'd sit outside in the gardens or walk around the estate. There were nights out to theatre and ballet. She'd never thought she'd find herself so involved with Elijah of all people, but it felt so wonderful.

(Elena had especially enjoyed the pool incident. She'd laughed good-naturedly at his expression one particularly hot summer's day when he'd found Kol rubbing sunscreen on her back and shoulders before she'd cannonballed into the pool - causing a sunbathing Rebekah to shriek in outrage as she was hit with a large splash of water. He hadn't looked particularly happy at the closeness she'd known she and Kol hadn't been able to help displaying, but he had rolled his eyes as she and Kol had wrestled one another in the pool.

"Come join us, Brother!" Kol had crowed, unaware of Elena behind him dunking under the water. He tried to call out again but was stopped as Elena yanked him under the water with her.

Elijah had smirked at the sight of Elena throwing her arms up in triumph at besting Kol.)

()()()

There had been only two major rough patches to Elijah's acceptance of the matter.

The first blow was on the day a month later, when Elijah realized that part of the deal involved Elena's blood. 

He was drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper when Klaus came downstairs earlier than usual, pulling a shirt on casually and informed him he had business elsewhere that morning. Elijah had raised an eyebrow but nodded and went back to his paper. He heard the sound of a knife cutting flesh and looked over to see Klaus filling a glass bottle with his own blood and a dark feeling settled over him. He discreetly followed Klaus and his curiousity proved to be well-founded when he saw from a distance that he was driving over to Elena's cottage. Elena came out of her house and quickly got into the car. The pair drove off and Elijah sped to his own car, intent on finding out what was going on. He caught up with them easily, staying back a few cars to avoid notice. Klaus had driven Elena to a clinic and Elena got out of the car, followed by Klaus. The two went in and Elijah simply _knew_.

He'd driven back to the estate, furious at the entire situation. Klaus had been collecting his blood to help replenish what he took of Elena's. He recalled Elena telling him the night before that she had dinner plans with Klaus at her cottage tonight - that was the schedule. The nights when he took her blood earlier in the day, the two of them dinned together, either in her cottage or in the manor. Elijah felt a sickening prickle along his skin - magic - and knew that he was helpless. He couldn't save her, couldn't do anything to interfere. He hated the realization that Elena had helped construct this, that Elena didn't _want_ to be saved.

He watched from a second story window as Klaus drove back onto the estate and back towards Elena's cottage. He watched in anger and helplessness as Klaus helped Elena out of the car and carried her into her house because she didn't have the energy to move herself. Elijah couldn't stop himself from rushing over there. He was in the cottage and had Klaus by the throat against a wall in minutes.

"If you wake her I will make your life so very unpleasant," Klaus growled, fighting him off. "She doesn't need to be disturbed right now."

Elijah backed off, surprised at Klaus's reaction. It was protective, yes, but almost to the point where it felt like Klaus was _concerned_ for Elena's well-being.

"Go and check on her if you'd like, Elijah, but do not wake her. She needs rest."

Casting a suspicious look his brother, he did so.

Elena was resting peacefully in her bed, her dark brown hair fanned out on her pillows. A quilt was tucked around her curled up form. She looked so small and delicate - nothing like any sort of person who could bring Klaus to reason. Content that she was otherwise fine, Elijah glanced around her room curiously. It was light and airy, along with the rest of the cottage decor. It was also elegant and thoughtful - Klaus had obviously had a hand in the decorating. Elijah studied the little knick-knacks on her night stand and dresser. He didn't recognize the few people in the few photographs Elena had stuck on the mirror. He assumed they were friends she'd made as Elena Masters. There was no trace of her life from Mystic Falls.

"Satisfied?" came Klaus's voice, so quiet that only he would be able to hear it.

Elijah said nothing and only offered Klaus a dark look.

Klaus motioned him out of the room when he saw Elena shift in her sleep.

Downstairs, Klaus went into the kitchen and Elijah was surprised to see that he had started prepping food for their dinner that night. "I can hardly expect her to cook for tonight," he said as he washed his hands and dried them on a fresh towel. He moved behind the counter in an instant, grabbing a clean knife and cubing chunks of beef that he put into a pot. "Shepard's pie, but first the filling has to stew for a bit," he clarified. "Do you wish to join us for dinner?"

"Yes," Elijah said, surprising himself.

"Then make yourself useful and dice the onion and celery."

With a roll of his eyes, Elijah did so. Then he pushed Klaus out of his way and took over the rest. "You never could cook as well as I," he said dryly.

"And yet Elena never minds," Klaus remarked.

"She doesn't have the heightened taste we do." He was silent as he added in fresh mushrooms and set the filling to simmer. "Every month?"

Klaus nodded.

"How does she recover from the continuous blood loss?"

"Her blood replenishes faster than a human's would. She also takes my blood as well as an assortment of supplements and medication."

Elijah began cleaning up, contemplating Klaus's explanation as he did so. What exactly had Elena wanted so badly that she'd willingly produce blood for him month after month, year after year? That she's remove herself so entirely from her old life and follow Klaus anywhere? He shook his head and went to the fridge to see what was available to make a decent dessert. He smiled as he found blueberries and sticks of butter. Scones it was, then.

"You can stop that mind of yours," Klaus said warningly.

Elijah didn't acknowledge him. "I need flour and sugar," he said instead, pulling out the blueberries, butter, and heavy cream. "And a mixing bowl."

"Anything else?" Klaus asked sarcastically.

"Then you can leave. I never could stand how you hover in the kitchen."

With a snort, Klaus did as he was bade, setting the requested items just out of Elijah's easy reach, and left.

It was later in the evening before Elena joined them, woken up by the delicious smells from the kitchen wafting around the cottage. Klaus had sauntered back over to the cottage minutes before she'd made her way down the stairs, noticably leaning on the railing.

Elijah studied her carefully throughout dinner, but aside from being slightly paler than usual, she seemed normal, just as she'd been that night a month earlier, when he'd first discovered she was residing under Klaus's care. She'd been surprised to see that he was joining her and Klaus, but cheerfully took it in stride.

He was just going to have to deal with it, he realized, as he caught on to the few inside jokes Elena and Klaus were enjoying during dinner. The two of them behaved as if nothing were wrong, as if it were just another normal evening. And it was, for them. The idea didn't sit well with him, but he couldn't do anything about it.

Klaus had left for the night, and Elijah remained, intent on making sure that Elena was okay. He surprised both of them by kissing her briefly on the lips, as he bade her goodnight and left.

()()()

The other hitch was only a week later.

Elena and Kol had been chasing each other around the manor when Elijah and Klaus returned home from a meeting with several local vampires who had been drawing too much attention to themselves. Loud music was blaring through every inch of the place and Rebekah was nowhere to be found. "She's forever a spoilsport," Kol had said, before taking a heavy drink from a bottle filled with a green liquid. "It's hard to find this stuff anymore!" he proclaimed. His eyes had a definite intoxicated quality to them - he'd been drinking heavily.

Indeed. Absinthe had been frowned upon for years. "You'll be happy to know that it's coming back into fashion," Klaus said dryly.

"Not as good as the old stuff, but it'll do!"

"Where is Elena?" Elijah asked.

"Right here!" Elena called. She was balancing precariously on the bannister of the second level, looking down at them all. "Kol, catch me!" And she jumped.

In one smooth motion Kol flung his bottle at Klaus and then sped to catch Elena. She fell into his arms with a shriek of laughter and when she pushed her dark hair out of her face, they could see she was very drunk. She beamed up at Kol who was grinning down at her. "That never gets old!"

"What have you been giving her?" Klaus asked. "Surely not the absinthe."

"No, just some really good wine," Elena volunteered. "Don't worry, I put the empty bottles in the recycling bin."

"We don't have a recycling bin," Klaus said patiently.

"Then what did I put them in?" she asked with a giggle.

"Why is Kol allowed to watch after Elena?" Elijah asked Klaus lowly.

"It's just a bit of fun," Kol protested. "Elena and I have lots of fun together, when she's not being so self-righteous."

"Kol was bored and so was I," Elena said, easing her way out of Kol's arms. "So we decided to be bored together."

Elijah didn't know what to say to that. Klaus merely looked amused, as if this were not a first occurrence.

"Do shots with us!" Kol said suddenly.

"Yes!" Elena said enthusiastically. "I'll cut the limes!" She unsteadily made her way over to a side table, where sure enough, there were small shot glasses, a small dish of salt, and a bowl of limes in front of a large bottle of tequila.

"Careful," Klaus warned.

Elijah went along with her to pour himself a different drink altogether - this was positively surreal.

"I'm always careful," Elena said disdainfully. "I've been nothing _but_ careful." She picked up the knife and began to quarter the limes.

Klaus gave Kol a look that let him know he was treading on thin ice.

"Damn it!" Elena suddenly exclaimed, flinging the knife away.

Elijah had bitten into his wrist and shoved it against her mouth, forcing her to drink until the large gash she'd accidentally sliced into her hand was healed with nary a tell to show that it had ever been injured - all without any thought of doing it. It had been something so intrinsic, so compulsive. He could feel the prickling of magic again, and his eyes narrowed.

He backed away from her quickly, looking around at the three of them, along with Rebekah who had seemed to appear from nowhere and wanted to see what the commotion was about.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"Rebekah," Elena asked, ignoring his question. "Walk me home?"

"There's no need," Elijah said, taking her arm. "I'll do so and you can explain."

Elena eyes him warily, all traces of intoxication gone - a little known side effect of vampire blood. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"At this moment I don't care what you think," Elijah said.

"Be reasonable, Elijah," Rebekah finally said.

"Elijah," Klaus warned.

Elijah ignored them and escorted Elena from the room.

"Now," he said, once they were outside.

"I told you before, the magic protects me," Elena said simply. "If I'm hurt, Klaus, Kol, or Rebekah - and now you, I guess, is compelled to heal me."

"And is this a common occurrence?"

Elena looked at him. "No," she said. "It's actually not. Only a few times in the years I've been with them."

"I had no control over my actions, Elena. I couldn't even give it a thought."

"It's horrible, isn't it? Having your control taken away from you, and realizing it?"

Elijah could only nod. He couldn't be angry at her, just the situation he found himself roped into. He could see the convenience in the compulsion he and his siblings had to heal her when she was injured - he could. She was supposed to be safe while under his brother's care and nothing could heal her faster than their blood. But he'd had no choice, no free will in the matter, and it had happened so fast. No one else had appeared to mind, either. He supposed he was just going to have to learn to deal with it.

"Does it hurt?" he asked finally. "Your hand?"

Elena shook her hand. "It's only a flesh wound," she said with a teasing smile.

"What in the world prompted you start drinking with Kol of all people?" he asked.

"It beats drinking by myself," she said. "And he's pretty fun most of the time, even if he won't let me try the absinthe."

"What if you'd broken your neck, falling like that?"

"I wouldn't have. Kol wouldn't have missed."

"You're awfully confident in that."

Elena turned back to look at him. "I _am_ confident in that. How many times do I have to tell you? I'm perfectly safe here."

"I'm glad to see that you haven't lost your drive, Elena. It was always a pleasure to see you when you had a course of action to follow."

"A Katherine trait, I've been told."

He shook his head. "Not quite. There's always been determination, but yours, Elena, comes from the need to do what's right - and that makes you far more dangerous than Katerina ever could be."

She smirked.

Elijah walked her to her cottage door and then stopped her from going inside.

"Elijah?" she questioned uncertainly.

He stared down at her for a long moment, taking in her flushed appearance and the wild disarray of her hair from her partying with Kol. Her eyes drew him in without a hint of artiface. He was smitten, he realized.

"Elijah?" she asked again.

He didn't stop to think about it as the idea took him. He pulled her against him and kissed her, sliding his tongue in her mouth as she gasped in surprise. He was sure she'd pull away, possibly slap him, but instead she pulled him closer and kissed him back. Her fingers ran up through his growing hair and tugged. He pressed her back against her door, securing his hold on her even as his mind insisted he should let her go, that he should run far far away from her. One hand came up to frame her face while his other slid down her side and back up before cupping a breast through the tank shirt she was wearing. He pulled his mouth away as he realized what he was doing and he rested his forehead against hers.

When he opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off. "Don't you dare say you're sorry," Elena commanded.

He smirked. "I wasn't going to."

"Good."

"I am, however, going to bid you a good night."

"Okay." She didn't move.

"Good night, Elena," he said, taking her hand in his and raising it to his lips.

"Good night, Elijah," she echoed.

()()()

Summer continued and Elena and Elijah continued to grow closer, ignoring the sly comments and looks from his siblings - especially Klaus. Even he couldn't bring them down from their high. Elena found she wasn't so ready for term to start; she was enjoying her summer with Elijah far too much. She was enjoying feeling alive and happy again. Contentment could only be a balm for so long.


	10. Nine

**Chapter Nine**

"No," was her instant response.

"I'm sorry, did you think that I was giving you a choice?" Klaus asked in his biting way.

"Bad things happen when vampires are in charge of formal events," Elena insisted. "You have no idea the mental gymnastics I had to do just to make it through prom those years in Maine!" 

"No one has suffered as you have," Klaus drawled.

"Why do you even want to throw a ball anyways?"

"We have our reasons," Rebekah said in a dry tone. "You don't have to be involved in planning it, you know. You just have to show up. It's going to be _the_ event of the summer."

Unbelievable, she thought as she studied them. Less than a full year in England and Klaus and Rebekah were acting like they were still Lord and Lady. Kol had bailed without rescuing her and Elijah was up in his office having an international conference call with a contact in Germany. Elena had had no real recourse but to sit and listen to Klaus and Rebekah's ridiculous notion of throwing a summer's eve ball.

The notions of formal events - dances especially - left her cold. She'd experienced too many ruined evenings to not be on edge. She'd been truthful with Klaus: her junior and senior proms back in Maine had been nerve-wrecking, as had the black-tie soiree they'd attended when they'd first arrived in England. She just couldn't enjoy herself when she expected a vampire to jump out and start snapping necks or trying to kill her.

"Are you really going to pass up the chance to have Elijah dance you around the ball room?" Klaus mocked.

Elena had to admit that the idea, no matter how meanly Klaus had intended it, was an attractive one. Maybe it could lead to something... more. Maybe it would be the push that Elijah needed, since he refused to go any further than some heated groping that left her nearly howling in frustration. She'd been sexless for almost four years now and Elijah's gentlemanly insistance on taking it slow wasn't helping her break the frustrating streak. She wasn't some starry-eyed debutante who needed carefully planned romantic wooing - she was a young woman who'd been to hell and back and wanted some action, dammit.

"And her interest is peaked," Rebekah noted smugly. "Believe me, Elena, nothing compares to the intimacy of the waltz. Mystic Falls may have advocated for the near touch, but they're fooling themselves."

Elena scowled at her for reminding her of Mystic Falls. The dancing with Stefan and Damon seemed like lifetimes ago. She missed them both so much sometimes and wondered if either of them had moved on from her. She hoped they had - both of them deserved to be happy. With a shrug, she cast her thoughts of Damon and Stefan away. "Fine. So long as all I have to do is show up."

()()()

"It's really simple," Kol said, as Elena stumbled again. "What are they teaching you kids these days?"

Elena grit her teeth in frustration. "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I needed to be an expert on 1800's waltzes!"

"You managed the one at the ball back in Mystic Falls just fine."

"That was a different one! We learned it along with the Miss Mystic Falls dance!"

"And this one is similar," he said patiently. "Just follow my lead." He grinned at her. "And relax! This is supposed to be fun."

"Alright," Elena said with resignation. "Let's go again."

Kol took a moment to get into a proper count with the still-playing music and then began. 

Close, but not the genuine article, Elena thought as she looked at him.

It took five more repeats, but with Kol's surprising patience, Elena eventually grew comfortable with the dance.

()()()

"You're sister is a monster," Elena said to Elijah as he ducked into her cottage for cover. "She must be stopped."

"You're telling me," Elijah remarked. "I'd almost forgotten how bad it was when she was planning an event like this."

"I can't sit through another meeting on napkins and silverware. I will break the magic and do physical harm to myself. I can't even _see_ a difference between rosewater and rosepetal!"

He shook his head in sympathy. "She's always been like this, ever since we first arrived in England centuries ago."

"It's maddening. I don't even know half the people she's inviting."

"Neither does she."

"Then why-"

"Appearances, Elena. There's been talk about all of us from our neighbors, asking who we are, where we come from, what we're doing here at this estate that's set around mostly empty for generations."

"It's _your_ estate," Elena said, sounding indignant.

"Indeed. But we don't want the scrutiny, so we open our home to those around us for an evening and then we'll be left alone for a while."

"It's all so pointless." Elena was far from an expert, but she doubted anyone living around them cared about them the way the others seemed to think. Chances are most of the soon-to-be guests just wanted to party in a big, beautiful place and get trashed.

"You may be surprised, Elena," Elijah suggested.

"Maybe you will be, too." It was a bold suggestion from her; she intended to knock his socks off, so to speak.

"Have you found a dress yet?"

"Officially, no." Her lips quirked up in a wry smile. "I actually picked out one a few days ago, but I have to wait for Rebekah to tag along. She threatened to take my head off if I didn't consult with her and I have to listen to her complain enough as it is."

"You have my sincerest sympathies."

"Can I ask you something? It's been bothering for me for ages."

He inclined his head in invitation.

"We were sneaking clothing into the manor a few weeks ago when it struck me; the clothes thing, where you throw out Rebekah's stuff? What makes you decide what has to go? How can you be sure that she'll replace it with suitable things? It doesn't make any sense."

Elijah's smile was wicked. "There isn't any real rule," he admitted. "I just like to annoy her every great once in a while. And Kol, at times."

"That's so mean!" Elena exclaimed with a disbelieving laugh. "I mean, you replace everything you throw out, but still!"

He shrugged and smirked. "I've never claimed to be a nice person. And Rebekah has many effective ways of making her wrath known to me. Are you going to divulge my secret?"

Elena shook her head, still laughing. "No, our little secret, I swear."

()()()

"She still hasn't realized?" Rebekah asked Elijah.

He shook his head. "She hasn't. She thinks it's all appearances for the neighbors."

"How could she forget her own birthday?" Klaus wondered with a frown.

"She isn't overly concerned with herself, Klaus."

"It'll be a lovely surprise then," Rebekah said. "Every girl should have a ball thrown in her honor."

"You've had hundreds," Elijah said dryly.

"And I deserved every single one," was her smug reply.

"Is the guest list finalized?" Klaus asked her.

"Yes. And the hybrids?"

"They'll be compelling everyone who attends. No violence, no scenes. Just a pleasant night for all involved."

"She hates formal events," Elijah said.

"She'll get over it." Rebekah checked her watch. "I need to go pick her up. We have dress shopping to do."

"Just let her pick what she wants," Elijah instructed.

"Her taste is appalling!" Rebekah exclaimed. "The way she dressed before all of this started was just-"

"It's meant to be her night, Rebekah, not yours. Let her have her fun."

"I hope you realize what I'm sacrificing here," came her pout.

"There will be songs about it," he said dryly.

She narrowed her eyes at him and stalked out of the room. He sighed and turned to his brother, who was looking at something on his phone. "I have a bad feeling about this, Klaus."

Klaus looked up at him and set down his phone. "Nothing is going to go wrong. Mother isn't here to rope Elena into killing us. Mikael isn't going to come barging in trying to shoot us with wooden bullets. The Salvatores are incapable of locating us. No one who isn't family gets on this estate without my knowing. Now remove that rod from your backside and relax a little."

Elijah did want to relax; he did want to just let his cares melt away and throw himself into whatever it was that he was building with Elena. But he needed to be careful, needed to make sure he understood as much about the deal between Elena and Klaus as possible. Elijah could see the frustration, the hurt in Elena's eyes when he inevitably pulled away from her before they got carried away. It pained him to see it, pained him to know he was the cause of it. But he had to be careful.

()()()

"This store?"

"Yep," Elena said, popping the 'p' and ignoring the appalled look that Rebekah sent her way. "I want to try this one."

This was the store, the one where she'd found the only gown she knew she'd consider wearing to this ridiculous ball Rebekah and Klaus were throwing. She'd fallen in love with it, even though she hated the idea of a ball with a fire she hadn't known was possible. If she had to go through such ridiculous motions, learn several old dances - from _Kol_ , of all people - then she was at least going to pick out her own damn gown and enjoy wearing it.

"These are horrible," Rebekah proclaimed as she glanced around the store. "You're wasting our time."

"Just let me look around," Elena said. "Klaus gave me his card, so you don't get to hold it over my head."

Rebekah frowned. "They're both determined to ruin this."

Elena simply rolled her eyes and walked to the back where her dress resided. When Rebekah saw it, she cocked her head, considering. "It's not completely terrible," she said, finally.

"I'm going to try it on." The attendant, who'd been miffed at Rebekah's distaste for the store, perked up and then rushed over to help.

Elena folded her clothing neatly on the chair in the dressing room - a large space with a mirrored walls and a fancy chandelier. Then she stepped into the gown and allowed the attendant to zip up the back. She smiled as she saw herself in the gown at last. 

It was a bronze colored study in shiny taffeta. The bodice was nearly a sweetheart neckline, with a gathering of pleated fabric wrapped up and over the middle. The natural waist was embroidered with dozens of shiny crystals configured in a sophisticated pattern. The gown fell in a tight a-line, with two sections gathered up on one side, creating a waterfall effect. Her skin glowed against the warm color, which was the effect Elena intended. She knew that others would look twice at her to make sure she _was_ clothed, because the gown gave the impression that she was revealing far more than she was hiding.

Rebekah's jaw dropped when Elena stepped out of the dressing room to show her. Her eyes were wide and she walked around Elena slowly. "You look beautiful," she said finally. "It's perfect."

"I love this dress," Elena said simply. "Do you think he'll like it?" Her question was so quiet that Rebekah looked at her as if to make sure she'd actually spoken.

"He won't be able to keep his eyes off of you," Rebekah said, still looking amazed.

"That's the plan," Elena said as she turned to stare at herself in the 180° mirror.

They paid for the dress and then Rebekah dragged Elena off so that she could find her own dress. "And shoes."

Rebekah settled on a blood red gown, a far cry from the dress she'd worn at the ball back in Mystic Falls years before. It was strapless instead of one-shouldered and Elena was grateful she wouldn't have to witness the destroyed dress the next morning as she had that time when she'd gone over to the boarding house only to find that Damon had spent the entire night with Rebekah. It was unfair how stunning she looked in everything - even torn gowns.

Shoes were picked out, tried on, and purchased. Rebekah waved off Elena's desire for jewelry, stating that she had the perfect pieces back at the manor.

"At least you've finally gotten into the spirit. Your sulking was getting old."

"I wasn't sulking!" Elena protested.

"Keep telling yourself that," Rebekah said airily, and then drove them home in silence.

()()()


	11. Ten

**Ten**

Dark had fallen when the first guests had begun to arrive. As each guest was welcomed to the estate, they were compelled to be on best behavior and ignore anything odd. Hybrids escorted them through a delicately lit footpath from the gardens to the wide-open doors of the ballroom. Then they were treated to the sight of the magnificent ballroom, set alight by glowing sconces high on the walls. The chandeliers that had been changed were ancient, reworked to run off electricity; they'd once blazed with candles. A small group of strings was playing relaxing yet lively music at the perfect volume. A few of the more trusted hybrids carried around trays of champagne in crystal glasses with long, delicate stems. A refreshment room was open off to the side, with punch, water, and a small assortment of light appetizers.

The pièce de résistance was the grand staircase directly across from the doors where the guests were entering. The marble gleamed in the light and the gilded banisters had been cleaned to a shining finish. It was from that staircase where Rebekah had always made her entrances (she'd had Klaus construct the ballroom in that fashion for that very reason) - and where Elena, as the unknowing guest of honor, would make hers.

Interspersed amongst the crowd were Kol, Elijah, and Klaus. They were chatting genially with their guests, every inch the gracious hosts. Rebekah was still upstairs overseeing Elena's hair and make-up and would be down shortly, they knew. Then when Elena came down, the festivities would really begin.

Rebekah made her appearance, clad in her blood red dress with her hair artfully tousled and pulled half-back. A diamond chain adorned her neck. Klaus and the others moved towards her when they saw her enter the room through the refreshment room. She smiled smugly at Klaus. "Everything is perfect."

Kol rolled his eyes, a gesture she saw and had her snapping back, "It wasn't as though you volunteered to help. You never did."

He grinned easily. "I was always too busy putting in appearances at White's and courting all the pretty young ladies." His grin morphed into a smirk. "And bedding all the beautiful widows and neglected wives."

Rebekah scoffed and Elijah and Klaus rolled their eyes.

"When is Elena coming down?" Klaus asked.

Rebekah glanced at the clock that hung at the top of the staircase. "In two minutes," she said. "And she's going to be ravishing."

Klaus smiled toothily.

"I won't lie," Kol said. "I've missed this sort of thing. The ball back in Mystic Falls just felt cheap."

"Then perhaps you can give the opening speech," Elijah suggested.

Kol snorted. "Not a chance, Brother. That honor falls to the current eldest, which is you."

"I hate this part."

"It's not about _you_ ," Rebekah hissed. "Here she is!"

The four of them looked up, as did just about everyone in the ballroom.

Elena, a vision in bronze, appeared at the top of stairs and looked down at them. From his vantage, Elijah didn't think he'd ever seen such a perfect sight, especially in this ballroom. It was like a fairy tale come to life.

Rebekah motioned for the awestruck Elena to join them and she did, carefully walking down the stairs, taking in the sights before, until the four others were on either side of her. Elijah signaled for the orchestra to stop and they did. Kol grabbed glasses of champagne from a waiter just at the bottom of the stairs and passed them up to Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah.

"What's going on?" Elena asked urgently, quietly.

"You're about to find out," Klaus whispered, knowing she'd be infuriated at his cryptic reply but unable to cause a scene.

"Thank you all for coming and sharing this night with us," Elijah said, his voice loud enough to resonate around the ballroom. "We apologize for not opening our home to you sooner, but we felt this was the best way to do so."

He looked back at Elena and she could see the slight smirk on his lips.

"For us, there is no greater care than that for family, and it is for family that we hold this ball. Elena Masters came to our family three years ago and we're honored to count her among our own. She's been a breath of fresh air and constant delight to us." He smirked. "We certainly haven't made it easy on her at times."

The crowed chuckled good-naturedly. Elena wondered if anyone could see the blood draining from her face. This couldn't be happening. The ball was for _her_?

"It's also her good fortune that among us she happened to have the first birthday since we arrived here. So, I'd like for you all to join me in wishing Elena a happy birthday - preferably without the song. She so does hate to be fussed over." There was another bout of laughter at the irony. He lifted his glass and turned to look at her again. Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah did the same, along with everyone there. "Happy birthday, Elena."

A resounding chorus of the sentiment followed. Elena just stared at them all in wonder. How had she forgotten her own birthday? She looked at the four people who had conspired against her. They were all smiling smugly up at her. "I hate you all," she mouthed, barely moving her lips. They continued to smile.

Elijah turned back to the crowd after a moment. "I hope you've all brushed up on your dancing. Our opening dance is Elena's favorite, a waltz."

Her eyes widened at his nerve, at the blatant lie. He was one of the most accomplished liars she'd ever met. She recalled how brazenly he'd lied to the people of Mystic Falls when Esther had held the ball as she tried to kill them - the words had flowed forth easily, so confidently that no one would think of not believing him. It was as if he didn't have to even think about what he was saying.

"Are you going to do me the honor of this dance or not?"

Elena snapped out of her reverie to see Elijah smirking, his hand held out to her. "You are such a liar," she said, taking his hand and letting him lead her down the stairs.

"I do it so well," he admitted easily.

"A little _too_ well," she muttered.

"Elena, Elena," he tutted. "Anything worth doing is worth doing well."

She glared up at him; he bit back a grin. "I suppose asking you to relax is too much?" They were on the floor now, moving towards the center of the room. Couples all around them were taking their places. Kol and Rebekah had both found partners who weren't each other, which surprised Elena. Klaus was off with a woman who Elena figured was his latest entertainment.

Elena looked up at him and sighed. "This is kind of a shock."

He positioned her arms, wearing a satisfied smile. "I find it more shocking that you forgot your own birthday."

She couldn't really shrug, so sure was his hold on her. "I just don't think about that stuff anymore," she said. "It just... It hasn't really mattered." The group of strings took a few seconds to tune.

"We'll have to remedy that."

The first strains of music began and Elijah swept her into the dance. Her lessons with Kol had paid off; her feet were light and sure as she stepped to Elijah's lead. Elena barely noticed the dancers around them. She caught a glimpse of Rebekah in her blood red dress, Kol with his purple vest and bow tie, Klaus in his customary unrelenting black. She looked at Elijah and was absurdly pleased to find that his vest and bow tie were bronze, like her dress.

"Your thoughts are wandering," Elijah murmured as he navigated her around a corner with the ease of decades and decades of practice. "This is meant to be an intimate dance."

Elena looked into his eyes. "How intimate?"

"Intimate enough that it was once considered scandalous; young ladies had to be given permission to dance it from the patronesses of Almacks. All sorts of secrets could be exchanged during a waltz. Engagements would be proposed, affairs started, alliances made and broken all in the course of a single dance."

His voice was low and gentle and had Elena nearly melting in his arms. "And what about this one?"

Elijah's hands tighted ever so slighty around her hand and waist. "I'm sure we'll figure it out."

Elena smiled and lost herself in the moment.

()()()

Her perfect moment was eventually ruined by Klaus, who claimed her for the next dance - with no hesitation from Elijah, even. It was lively music and even though Elena didn't know the steps she caught on quickly. Klaus was accomplished enough to lead her without letting her appear foolish.

"Did you have to interrupt?" she gritted out as they spun.

"Dance with him too many times and people will think you both have intentions."

"No one thinks like that anymore." When were Klaus and Rebekah going to realize that this wasn't some trashy romance novel? Or at the very least, it wasn't the 1800s?

His grin was wide and they narrowly missed slamming into Kol and Rebekah. "You'd be surprised."

"What if I did have intentions?" She asked, just to be contrary.

"Then our lives are about to get a lot more interesting."

 _Nothing seemed to faze the infuriating man._ she thought. "How long have you been planning this?" She caught a glimpse of Elijah dancing with a tall, statuesque red-haired woman and frowned.

"A month or so." He saw where her gaze was directed. "I'd offer to kill her for you, but I literally can't."

Elena snorted. "It doesn't matter."

"I thought you'd be more territorial."

A clumsy pair of dancers careened into Elijah and the woman. Elena didn't bother trying to disguise her smirk. "I'm not worried."

"How was your waltz?"

Elena smiled up at him dreamily, despite the briskness of the dance. "It was wonderful. And then you came along."

He grinned. "All good things, Elena."

"Rebekah's in her element," she commented, as Kol and his sister went whirling pass them. "How does she make it look so effortless?"

"Centuries and centuries of practice. Rebekah's always been light-footed."

"You're not too bad yourself."

He caught the merry glint in her eyes as he spun them around again in time with the music. "Elena Masters, are you flirting with me?"

Her smile was wicked. "In your dreams."

Klaus laughed and dipped her as the music ended.

Elena barely had time to catch her breath before Elijah was walking the red-haired lady towards her and Klaus. Elena managed not to grit her teeth. It was her goddamn birthday ball and Elijah was flaunting another woman? She had half a mind to reach up and pull Klaus's mouth down to hers for a revenge kiss; that'd show him.

"Elena, I'd like to introduce a friend of mine. This is Susanna Mills, she's a literary agent."

The woman smiled pleasantly at Elena, who forced herself to remember her manners and smile back.

"Elijah tells me you're a writer," Susanna said. She had a low, gravely voice that was at odds with her glamorous looks.

"Here and there," Elena said. "I used to write all the time. Sometimes it was in my diary, other times it was short stories in notebooks. I haven't had a lot of time for it lately."

"You attend university?"

Elena nodded. "I'm a literary major; I pick up writing classes when I can."

"That's good," Susanna encouraged. "I'll leave my card with Elijah. If you ever want advice or someone to bounce ideas off of, I'd be happy to meet with you."

She was taken aback at the gesture. "I'd like that," she said honestly.

Susanna and Elena chatted for a few more minutes, effectively ignoring Klaus and Elijah. Eventually Rebekah dragged Elena away to get some punch ("You need it.") and the pair was drawn into conversation with some of the local young women. Most of them seemed excited to actually be in the manor and didn't care about Elena or her birthday. Elena didn't really care if they were here for her or not, and neither, it seemed, did Rebekah.

"So how are you related?" One of the women asked. Alice, Elena thought her name was. She was a pale, pretty thing, with black hair and blue eyes.

"Elena's an old family friend," Rebekah answered. "We go way back."

"And how is that?" Another woman, Carmen, asked. Carmen seemed to follow Alice's lead, nodding when the other woman nodded and shifting when the other woman shifted.

"Our parents had the same hobbies," Elena replied, with a careless hand wave. "They had some years between them, but some things just pull you together."

"How nice," was the chorus. Elena had serious doubts as to the sincerity.

"What kind of hobbies?" Alice asked. She was a bold one, Elena thought, ignoring Rebekah's glare at the woman.

"Self-defense, woodworking, genealogy, and other stuff like that."

Rebekah gave Elena a curious look when she mentioned "genealogy."

"Oh! I see my boyfriend," Another girl - Lauren, said. "I'd better go and drag him out for a dance." She got a slight nod of approval from Alice. "Happy birthday, Elena." The gaggle of women migrated to where a pasty-looking young man surrounded by other unimpressive-looking young men stood huddled together against the far wall.

"These things used to be more fun," Rebekah said dryly. "At least the verbal sparring was. Those girls are such amateurs. There's hardly any sport in tearing them down at all." She shook her head. "Genealogy?"

Elena smirked. "My parents were obsessed with their history, since they were a founding family and all. And your father did chase your family through time, in a certain way."

Rebekah surprised her by laughing.

"Not a bad turnout, considering most of the people don't care about us," Elena said by way of compliment.

"They're here for curiosity. And to be seen. That much hasn't changed a bit since the last time I was here."

"Thanks," Elena said quietly. "I still can't believe I didn't put everything together."

Rebekah shrugged. "I can." But there wasn't any malice in her words.

"I'm surprised those women even wanted to talk to me."

"They didn't. They just wanted to know if you're boffing one of my brothers," Rebekah said simply.

It was all Elena could do to not spit out her drink. "What?" Elena cast and incredulous glance at the women and their men, and then up at Rebekah.

"Probably trying to figure which ones are still available. Ah, here comes Kol. This should confuse them nicely." Rebekah took Elena's drink from her with a smug smile. 

Indeed, Kol strode over and claimed her for a dance, and Elena enjoyed the exhilarating steps. He was a fun dance partner, whether she was under the influence or sober. She danced with a few other young men who'd somehow worked up the courage to approach her in the face of Klaus and Elijah, neither of whom spent much time away from her. She had to give them credit for standing up to the dangerous smiles her guardians offered.

On the ball continued.


	12. Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

* * *

Late in the evening, another waltz was announced and Elijah smoothly pulled Elena to him before anyone else could think to ask her, arranging her arms where they needed to be.

"I had no idea you were such a dancer," Elena said.

"A hazard of immortality, I'm afraid. There's so much time to learn all there is."

"What about teaching? Does immortality lend itself to that?" She felt her heart race as his dark eyes bore into hers.

"That would entirely depend in who I'm teaching." He have her a heated look as he ever-so-slightly tightened his hold on her, bringing her closer to him. "And what the subject is, of course."

"What would you like to teach me?" It was, she knew in that moment, the boldest question she'd ever asked in her life.

He bent towards her, his lips barely brushing her ear. "There is much I'd like to teach you, my lovely Elena."

"Yes." The, answer to every question that mattered to her, in that ballroom, spilled from her lips so quietly that only the promise in his eyes confirmed she'd spoken.

The dance continued and the two of them ignored the rest of the world, stepping and parrying with the other couples.

They didn't care about appearances as they disappeared together as the last strains of the waltz sounded. They just left quietly and quickly through a side door Elijah motioned to and hastened up to what she hoped was his bedroom.

The hallway to his room was predictably deserted. Neither of them gave a second thought to the guests in the ballroom. Their only concern was getting away, alone together.

Elijah stopped at a door and Elena opened it before he had a chance to lift his arm. She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside after her. Elijah had the presence of mind to shut and lock the door behind him.

"Alone at last," Elena said.

"At last," he murmured. He went about turning on lamps and quickly built a fire in the fireplace across the grand room. Elena simply waited patiently - she'd waited this long; she could wait a few more minutes.

"Are you finished setting the mood?" She asked teasingly when he was before her once more.

"There are a few more things I could think of. But for now, my lovely Elena, I'll settle for watching you undress."

A thrill raced throughout her body and she could feel her toes curling in their dainty shoes. The look on Elijah's face was like nothing she'd ever seen from him before. How had she spent so long without noticing how he regarded her? How was such a look of unguarded desire even possible? "So you want a show?"

"I want you."

"You have me." Slowly, Elena turned around, exposing the back of her dress. "Mind helping me?"

"It will be the first of many of my pleasures tonight."

His deft hands slowly lowered the zipper, the sound seemingly amplified by the tension in the room. Elena stepped away from him and with a smirk sent over her shoulder, let the gown drop to the floor. She wore no bra, but the lace covering her along with the sheer stockings and garters Rebekah had slipped into her bed when Elena wasn't looking made her feel the height of sexual. She didn't want to step out of her shoes, the modestly high heels made her legs look great and she wanted him to notice, too.

He did, judging by how fast he was behind her and crouching to kiss the backs of her legs. Elijah worked his way up, nipping lightly at the swell of her buttocks. Elena's breath hitched at the action, it was so unexpected and so... _thrilling_. It was as if he knew what would shake her the most, arouse her the most.

"Elijah," she said in a near moan.

"Hmm?" Another nip as his hands trailed ghostingly up her waist.

"Take your clothes off."

He pressed a long kiss to the small of her back as he rose. He caught her gaze as she turned around to watch him. She let her eyes roam appreciatively over him so he began to undress. He threw the undone bow tie at her with a smirk. She grinned and draped it around her neck.

"You'll forgive me for not doing a proper striptease," Elijah said dryly. "I'm without a feather boa."

Elena giggled. "I'd have to leave," she said. "And I've finally gotten you right where I want you."

"And so I'll endeavor to stay where you want me," The jacket and vest were gone. He was undoing the cuffs of his button down shirt. "Since I'm finally right where I want to be." 

How could he make removing his clothes so simple and so hot at the same time? It wasn't fair. "It shouldn't have taken us this long."

Elijah paused in unzipping his pants. "What do you mean?"

"I've been trying to get you naked for weeks now."

"I know. I just wanted to be sure you-"

"Elijah." She moved his hands away and slid his pants - and boxers - off for him. "I have never been more sure about anything in my life."

"Elena-" She silenced him with a kiss. When she finally came up for air, she started to pull him back towards his bed with her. He followed willingly, his hands running up and down her sides.

"I've dreamed about this."

"Hopefully I'll live up to your imagination," Elena said as she did a small backwards hop onto the bed.

Elijah took in the sight of her naked, save for stockings and heels, on the bed and wanting him. "You already surpass my imagination." He'd dream of this, so many, many times, and it was finally, gloriously real. Elena was in his room, in his bed, ready for him.

He moved so fast she couldn't see him, pushing her back on the bed and covering her with his body. As his lips attacked her neck she moaned and brought her legs up to wrap around him. Her neck was always a thrill spot for her, more so since vampires had come into her life. Elijah worked his way across and down her neck, taking his slow, sweet time. Every part of her thrummed in excitement, in readiness. He finally made his way to her breasts and her nails raked down his muscled back, noting the dips and rises as he flexed. 

She could smell the metallic tang of the blood she'd drawn, and so could he. For the first time, Elena saw his eyes darken with red, saw the inky black veins rise. He looked up at her with the face of a monster and she'd never seen a man so beautiful in her whole life. He kissed her, hard, and she arched up against him, eager for more.

He said something then, something in a language she didn't understand. She didn't care, because his lips and his hands were telling her everything she needed to know.

Elena lost track of time as she and Elijah learned each other, discovered what they liked, what they needed and wanted. It was as if everything was in a glorious lust-induced technicolor haze. She hadn't known it was possible for a man to move like Elijah did, to move with the same urgency and gentleness he did.

Night ticked on and when they would collapse on the bed, panting - for yes, she, Elena Gilbert, had made Elijah pant - little time would pass before she was pulling him back onto her, or he was moving her to ride him yet again.

They moved like they'd done so hundreds of times before, with no awkward fumbling or missteps. Surely Elena had always known the way Elijah liked his neck to be gripped? Surely Elijah had known how she liked to have a leg up near his shoulder? Surely this was the way things were meant to be?

He felt her arch up even as he moved her leg to drape over his shoulder, and then she wrapped her other leg around him. He never wanted to stop, not ever, that damn secret deal she'd made be damned. He'd been waiting years, a lifetime, all for this, all for this perfect night with Elena. Elena, sweet and tight and lovely and compassionate and wild - oh, so wild in his arms, under him and atop him. The thought that she was his, that he was hers, drove him to an urgency he'd never felt before, and he moved faster and deeper, harder and somehow more desperate, her cries spurring him on. He snapped his hips to press into her and she tumbled with a shout and a hard, bite to his neck, and he spent himself, collapsing atop her. The bite had been his undoing.

()()()

Sunlight was pouring into the room and Elena, stretching out languidly in Elijah's bed, smiled as she felt the warmth touch her face. The sheets were luxurious around her bare skin and she would be content to simply lie there in sheer comfort all day long. It was a large bed, she realized, since she couldn't even detect Elijah's presence.

"Do we even have to bother leaving this room today? I could stand a few days like this with the right incentive," she murmured.

He didn't answer her. "Did I really wear you out that much?" she teased. "I'm only a human."

Again, there was no answer.

With a frown, Elena turned over, only to find that the other side of the bed was _not_ occupied by Elijah. It was empty. It was cold. Had she simply overslept? Elijah was an early riser and maybe he wouldn't have had the patience to laze around in bed all day when he could be up and dressed. Some people were just stuck in their routines like that. And older vampires didn't even need as much sleep as humans did, so she couldn't expect him to conform to her schedule, could she?

She heaved a sigh and left the bed, walking completely nude to the bathroom. She had her needed moments before stopping in front of the bathroom's mirror and just staring at herself. She looked the same, yet she felt so different. She looked at her body, recalling every touch, kiss, devotion of Elijah's the night before. Deciding to go and find him, she picked up her gown to slip back into it. She wasn't going to be a cliche and wear her... her what? Her boyfriend? Calling Elijah something so trivial seemed laughable. Lover? That didn't sound right to her either. Whatever he was to her, and she ignored the pang she felt at not being able to define it, she wasn't going to wear one of his shirts. She looked around his room with curiosity. She'd never been in his space before, since so much of their time together was spent in her cottage or on the grounds. The previous night she hadn't been too concerned with getting a peak inside Elijah's mind via his room when she was more concerned with getting Elijah inside her. She smirked happily at that thought.

She was going to replay the night in her mind over and over again - probably until her deal with Klaus came to a close. And if Elijah wanted to add more highlights to the already spectacular reel, all the better. Everything, finally, was perfect. She didn't even mind that she'd most likely have to endure various suggestive and out-right dirty remarks at her and Elijah's expense from his siblings. Kol, in particular, had a talent for it, judging from the last time Rebekah had returned home early one morning with her hair mussed and a pleased glint in her eyes. Perhaps Elijah had gone downstairs to head them off before they could start in on her. He was like that, Elena thought with a smile.

Casting one last look around Elijah's room and with a dreamy sigh, Elena went downstairs to face the music.


	13. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I generally don't do lots of author's notes. But I think this chapter needs one, so here goes.
> 
> Everything about this story is planned and very little happens for no reason. I've had this story in my head for a very long time and there is a clear end I'm working towards.
> 
> All I ask is that you trust your author.

**Chapter Twelve**

* * *

Silence greeted her as she came upon Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah in a drawing room. Klaus was sprawled out in his usual high-backed chair. Kol and Rebekah were curled up together on a small sofa. Elijah was nowhere in sight. Klaus didn't send her a sly, knowing grin. Kol didn't make any pithy comments on Elena's outrageously scandalous behavior. Rebekah didn't demand any details or take credit for her part in Elena's glorious evening. Instead they simply looked at her, not saying a word. What in the world was going on?

"I wasn't expecting a parade, but a wake?" she said finally.

Kol made a sound that might have been a snort but Rebekah quickly punched his arm. Silence seemed to be the name of the game.

"Where's Elijah?" she asked.

None of them answered. Okay, this was getting old. "Are you all _that_ upset I slept with him?"

Klaus cast his eyes heavenward and shook his head.

"Where is he, Klaus?" A small pit was starting to form in her stomach. What was wrong? Where was Elijah? Why was the universe determined to kill her afterglow?

"He's gone," Rebekah said quietly, so quietly that Elena very well wasn't meant to hear.

"What do you mean, he's gone?" No, no, Elijah wouldn't do that to her. He had an errand to run, that's all. Some logical explanation.

"He came to me early this morning and said he was leaving." Klaus stood and went to pour himself a glass of something the color of dark amber. "And then he left."

Elena shook her head. This couldn't be right. This had to be some sort of dark, emotional hazing they were partaking in - some kind of "welcome to our twisted family, congratulations on sleeping with our brother, and by the way we own you now" joke. But Elijah wouldn't have left her, not after what they'd done, shared, been...

"I saw him leave," Kol said grimly.

"Where did he go?" Elena asked. "There has to be some sort of mistake."

"We don't know where he went," Rebekah said. "He has a number of places he's fond of, but Elijah is good at covering his tracks. If anyone can stay hidden from us, it's him."

"Why would he-" she couldn't get the question out. Something dull and dim settled over her. It wasn't possible, couldn't be possible... Elijah had left her. He'd made her his world for one glorious night, and then left her alone, with nary a word to her, and had gone where she couldn't follow.

"I don't know," Klaus said in answer to her unfinished question. "He didn't give a reason, only said that he was leaving." He was looking at her with something that looked alarmingly close to pity.

"I-" Elena looked around, anywhere but at the three vampires in front of her. "I have to go. I'll be in my cottage." She turned and fled.

After she was gone from the manor, Klaus downed the rest of his drink and threw the glass against the inside wall of the fireplace.

"I am going to dagger him the next time I see him," Rebekah seethed.

"You can't. I checked on them - they're all gone, along with the white oak ash." Klaus said lightly. "He covered his bases well."

"So what do we do about Elena?" Kol asked. "She's not going to want anything to do with us. Not for a long time to come."

"Well, with our little agreement, she's going to be around me, at least. There's no getting around that." He looked to his younger brother and sister. "And you'll leave her be."

"Nik!" Rebekah exclaimed.

"If she doesn't want to be around us more than necessary, then she'll have her space." He spoke to them in a tone of a harrassed adult dealing with particularly dim children.

Kol and Rebekah just stared at him. It wasn't like him to advocate for Elena, let alone her desire for space. Upon their arrival back in England, the cottage had been a shock to the the pair of them. They'd not thought further of it, however, as they'd written if off as one of his little quirks during a night spent reacquainting themselves with Kol's bedroom. But this was something different.

"Since when do you care what Elena wants?" Rebekah scoffed.

"Since when do I answer to either of you?" he merely taunted. "Don't worry your pretty little head, Rebekah, or your maniacal chaotic mind, Kol."

He swept from the room and Kol and Rebekah exchanged a look. "He's not going to say a word further on it," Kol said. Rebekah nodded reluctantly. "At least he can't dagger either of us," he continued. 

"We could always celebrate that little fact," she suggested. "And let the little human wallow in her self-pity."

"I so enjoy our celebrations," Kol said, grinning.

The pair made their way up to Kol's room, letting their concerns melt away so they could melt into each other.

()()()

Klaus stood in front of a window up on the third floor of the manor. It offered a clear view of the cottage and it's surrounding grounds. He'd arrived upstairs just in time to see Elena, a broken vision in bronze, enter her cottage as the few hybrids patrolling the grounds looked her way in curiosity.

He knew what was coming. He could feel it sizzling in his blood.

He wondered just how long it would be.

He wondered just when Elena was going to break.

()()()

The numbness was driving her mad.

Sheer, constant numbness had been her entire being for the last three days.

There had been anger, sure. Some shock as well. Even sadness. But it was all pushed back under the blanket of numb that had settled over her like a heavy, oppressive mantle.

She wished she could feel the pain. The pain, as horrible as it would be, with heaving, gasping sobs of a broken heart, shrieks and sorrowful wails of betrayal, would be better than the numbness the magic had substituted after her deal with Klaus. Pain, actual pain - whether physical, mental, or emotional - was something she couldn't feel anymore.

Elena tried to lose herself in the memories of her perfect night, but no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on how Elijah's lips had adoringly kissed up her belly before capturing the peak of a breast, or how sinful and wonderful it was to tangle her fingers in his growing hair, the same rude realization that he'd _left_ her without so much as a goodbye kept ruining her ruminations. Elijah had ruined something that had been so beautiful and all Elena wanted was to be able to acknowledge that, feel it in the depths of her being. She wanted the pain, not the godforsaken numbness she had instead.

She missed the pain. She _needed_ the pain.

And there was only one way to feel it again.

()()()

Under a week, but longer than a day or two: he was impressed at Elena's willpower.

He'd felt the magic ripple on his skin and had sent Kol and Rebekah off to London for a week. There wasn't a need for them to be around, not while...

Not while he did his duty, as he thought of it.

That's what it was. Oh, Kol would have considered it a perk, a due owed to him for what he did. But it wasn't a perk. Though he couldn't lie and say he didn't enjoy it in the heat of the moment, because he did, would have to be mental not to. No one except for he and Elena knew about it, the strange resulting binding the magic had done when they'd linked their lives together in the deal they'd made. No one else needed to know. Elena would come to him and he would attend her in the way that only he could. 

The magic had grown more forceful, the prickling nearly uncomfortable as it raced up and down and back and forth across his skin. Usually it was a subtle tingle that he rarely noticed; it only inflamed when Elena grew uncomfortable. That instance took a perfect storm of circumstances it seemed - it had only happened once in three years. It was a small price to pay, Klaus figured.

Dark had fallen before he heard the door to the manor open and Elena's converse-clad shows come padding in. It had to be here - no hybrids were in the house. The coming hours were only for he and Elena.

It didn't take long for her to make the trek up to his suite of rooms. He'd shown her where they were and the fastest path of access when they'd relocated to England. She'd sneered at him, telling him she wouldn't need to spend time in his bedroom. He'd known she was wrong, and so, he could tell, had she. Appearances, and all that.

He was prepared for her to come into his bedroom, but he hadn't prepared for the utter blankness that graced her beautiful face. He pushed away the unease he felt at seeing such blankness the face of his long dead lover, knowing it belonged to a new woman. He rarely thought about how the lack of pain affected her, until the prickles shot about his skin; then it was impossible to not think about it.

"What do you need from me?" He asked quietly. He already knew, but somehow hearing it made it bearable.

Elena simply stared at him, as though his question hadn't even registered. After a few moments she simply said, "pain."

()()()

_"The pair of you have agreed to the terms, now what is left is to seal your bond. You have the ring?" The witch was emotionless as she spoke, saving her energy for the upcoming magic she was about to weave into them._

_Klaus pulled the ring, an old family ring created centuries before Elena he'd been born, and with a mocking smile, slid it onto the finger Elena offered - along with another finger. The girl had fire, he'd give her that._

_"I will leave the two of you to complete it," their witch said. She left, leaving a bundle of lit sage smoking fragrantly in a small bowl by the door. Upon the door's closing and ominous lock, Elena just stared up at Klaus._

_"This isn't going to happen again," she finally said, undressing._

_"And I've no desire for it to happen again." He smirked and stripped as well. "I'd say to just lie back and think of England, but I think Mystic Falls is more appropriate."_

_"Let's just get this over with," she spat._

_"You'll be singing a different tune before long."_

_She did. Klaus may have been a psychopath, but when it came to the bedroom he was _good_._

_He was neither gentle nor brutal, Elena didn't care either way. This wasn't a tender night of making love, this was sealing a magically binding agreement in blood, with sex as the catalyst. Her body, her blood, given up in a new covenant, shed for those she loved. His body and blood bound to hers, so that past sins would be lost and new order would be established. As he filled her, as her blood became his and his hers, the ring on her finger, purest diamond, was forged into tainted, adulterated honor. It would remain so for the length of their agreement, until the blood was let to lie._

_He liked to bite and squeeze and bruise and moans unbidden poured from her mouth in damned tones. She wasn't without her wits and closed her eyelids in triumph when she made him buck his body and plead her name. They didn't cry each other's names, nor was there any hazy afterglow with knowing looks and promises for more. They parted and dressed and left the bedroom. The witch glanced over them and nodded grimly at Elena's ring._

_"It is done."_

_"Our gratitude," Klaus said._

_Elena an looked down at her ring, a living sign of the bondage she'd bargained her way into._

_"You are untraceable to them," the witch said. "So long as you keep the ring on you they cannot find you. You are, to them, dead, Elena Gilbert. As are you, Klaus, son of Mikael."_

_"Shall we take our leave then?" Klaus asked with a smirk, offering her his arm, which she ignored with a sneer._

_"Don't talk to me," was all Elena said as they left the witches house and got into Klaus's car._

()()()

Elena lost count of how many times she let her body be used by Klaus, using his own in return. Pain sparked along her entire being as she flashed back to that night in her memory. Klaus bent her in painful, life-affirming ways, seemingly as desperate as she. He was cruel as he bit her, never drawing blood, but leaving bruises in his wake. Bruises that would she knew, last for days, be able to pressed into for days. He pulled her hair roughly, baring her neck to him before sucking harsh circlets of blood into life under her skin. He kissed her, hard, as his body drove her to the limits of human tolerance for pain and then unceremoniously shoved her over the edge, not daring to scream or moan or curse her name, as she ignored his.

She didn't thank him, and he simply pushed their days together into the back of his mind as he sent for Kol and Rebekah to return at the end of the week and once again settled into his routine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I generally don't do lots of author's notes. But I think this chapter needs one, so here goes.
> 
> Everything about this story is planned and very little happens for no reason. I've had this story in my head for a very long time and there is a clear end I'm working towards.
> 
> All I ask is that you trust your author.


	14. Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

* * *

Elena clawed her way back to normality with a fervor that surprised everyone, herself included. The bruises and bites Klaus had given her eventually faded. She'd pressed into them and twisted the skin over and over before there was nothing left but numbness. Pain again became a distant memory and Elena vowed she would bounce back and recover.

"I will say I'm fine. And I will mean it. I will not let myself slip into depression and I will be strong. I will not let myself be destroyed by his actions." Elena said these words to herself every morning when she woke up.

She forced herself out of bed, forced herself to go running in the mornings as had been her habit B.E., as she came to call it. _Before Elijah_. She even spent time with Rebekah and Kol, allowing them to stay in the small niches they'd carved into her life. After all, they weren't their brother. Elena couldn't hold them accountable for his actions, though it was tempting.

After everything she had went through in her life, she wasn't going to let Elijah's betrayal be what broke her. She was better than that. Elena Gilbert was no one's victim. Not anymore.

()()()

"I suppose you'll want to put schooling off until the next semester?" Klaus asked Elena one night as she sat outside, listening to the sounds of nature and smelling the various flowers from her garden. September was fast approaching, and with it, the start of Elena's university.

"No, I'm ready to get back. This summer has been long enough already." She'd thought it through. School would be good for her, routine would be good for her.

"If you're sure," Klaus said, sounding unconvinced. She rolled her eyes as she focused away from his gaze and instead on a growth of flowers where she'd seen a rabbit disappear. He could stop her from going anywhere and they both knew it.

"I'm positive. I was actually wanting to go into town tomorrow to pick up a few things for it." She looked over at him. "I have a list and everything." And she did. Just not necessarily specific school supplies. "I'll take a hybrid like every other time."

Klaus eyed her for a long while. What he was searching for, Elena wasn't sure. Finally, he nodded and she internally sighed with relief. "Very well."

"I'm okay, you know," Elena said as he stood to leave.

"No, you're really not, but you will be," he said as he left.

She thought on his words. Okay, so _technically_ he was right. She'd been miserable and not herself. But she was miles from where she started when she'd began to pull herself back together. She'd be okay, she would.

()()()

Retail therapy... Caroline would have been so proud, Elena thought. She went into store after store after store. Clothes were tried on and displayed for whoever happened to be around. Things she never would have worn before were purchased and boxed up. Had her hybrid companion had any personality, she was sure that his expression would have been hungry as she tested some of the more scandalous lingerie she'd encountered. She didn't bother to think of the bills she was racking up, that Klaus, ultimately, would be responsible for. 

Lunch for her and her companion was a fancy affair, at a small eatery that didn't bother to list prices on its menu. Her companion said nothing, simply eating and glaring at any poor soul who might have considered approaching Elena. At least, she thought, he was getting a decent meal out of it.

It was late afternoon before Elena made her way out of the last of the shops she was interested in. Behind her, the hybrid carried the boxes and bags she'd racked up during her day out. Sure, there were a few things purchased for school, all from her list, but mostly it was frivolous things she’d bought. She'd never had the inclination before, but, she thought, the money was there for her use. Why not treat herself? 

She walked passed a salon and then stopped, before making a snap decision and turning around to enter it. The attendant at the counter looked at her in protest before Elena pulled out three of her credit cards and slapped them on the counter. "Pick one," she said.

()()()

"Rebekah is going to be furious with you," Klaus said as soon as he saw her. “You know how much she enjoys fixing your hair whenever there’s a special event.”

Elena shrugged and shook her head back and forth. "Let her be angry." She smiled, looking so happy that Klaus resolved to have a little chat with his sister before she caught sight of Elena.

Elena's hair had been chopped off and styled into an angled bob that was longer in front to frame her face and shorter towards the back of her head. She'd also added in a few streaks of pink, of all things. It looked light and cheerful and for some reason, entirely Elena. He'd never seen a Petrova doppelganger with such short hair, but it suited her.

“Your little excursion was successful, I take it? I noticed my hybrid unloading all of your things in front of your cottage door.”

Elena smirked. “He had so much fun today.”

“I’m sure.” He clasped his hands behind his back and sighed heavily. “And now, onto unpleasant business, I’m afraid.”

Elena’s heart sunk. Surely he wasn’t going to keep her from school, not when she so desperately needed the distraction, the routine.

“Tomorrow is our next bloodletting day.”

The relief she felt was paramount. Damn him for worrying her like that, she thought. “I haven’t forgotten.”

“Good.” He was grinning at her, obviously amused at his own antics, like a naughty schoolboy. “I’ll be here to pick you up at the usual time. Do you have a preference for dinner?”

Elena glared at him as she considered. “Filet mignon with brussel sprouts,” she decided, knowing how much he detested the vegetable.

“I had a feeling I’d pay for my little joke,” he said.

“It’s a good thing you haven’t quit your day job.”

“Now my feelings are hurt,” he said, feining sadness.

“That would require you to actually have feelings.” She was pleased she hadn’t lost her touch in the dark days that had followed Elijah’s abrupt departure. She could still needle Klaus when she felt a yen.

“Back on form, I see,” Klaus acknowledged. “That’s good; I’ve so missed our verbal sparring.”

“Is that what you called your attempts?”

He chuckled. “Oh, Elena, prepare yourself.” He smirked at her as he left her sitting alone in her garden in the dying August heat.

()()()

Rebekah glared at her for a week. “The pink makes you look like a tramp,” she spat.

“I supposed you’d know all about it,” Elena parried, unconcerned.

Kol, for his part, simply ruffled his hands in her hair when he saw and pronounced her a dish, earning a scowl from Klaus.

She found the books she’d need for her upcoming year online, and started reading a few chapters in each after they arrived at her doorstep. So far nothing seemed too challenging, but then again, she didn’t have the benefit of a syllabus to guide her. She was sure that once her professors started using the online portals, she’d find herself in the midst of pre-assignments and additional reading suggestions. It was just what she needed.

Kol insisted on having her over nearly every night the last week of August. "Pretty soon you'll do nothing but schoolwork and I'll be out a drinking partner. Do you have any idea how boring it's going to be without you around all day?" Kol asked her the Saturday night before term was due to start. Elena had insisted on keeping to herself Sunday night, since she refused to show up the first day exhausted. "Bekah can be an awful bore and Klaus won't let me compell the hybrids."

"And here I thought you and Rebekah have plenty of ways to entertain yourselves," Elena said dryly.

"That's sex, and it's not the same," he said simply. "Our time together requires a sense of humor and fun, something dear Beks lacks." He smirked. "And don't misunderstand me, the sex is great. It _is_ a good way to pass time, especially when it annoys Klaus and Eli-" he cut himself off. "That pompous ass." he corrected. "But it's not hanging out with you."

Elena rolled her eyes. "So, you're good for sex, you just want fun?"

"Precisely."

She smiled. "It's been a long time since anyone's considered me fun."

"It's been a long time since you've been able to have it."

Kol could be achingly astute at times, she thought. It was unnerving, especially as it went against his usual chaotic and mischevous demeanor. When the day came, and it would, she would probably miss Kol more than anything. He was almost a mix of Tyler and Matt, except both lacked psycopathic tendencies. She _would_ miss their little parties, even if he always refused to let her try the absinthe.

"So, what's on our agenda for tonight?"

Kol grinned. "The question is 'what _isn't_ on our agenda for tonight?'"

In the end, there were ten empty wine bottles set out for a hybrid to collect and recycle. And Kol was going to have to replace a lamp that Klaus had had since the 1920s. And Elena was banned from jumping off of the balcony. Small prices to pay, Kol insisted, for a hell of a way to end their free time together. "At least until winter break," he added.

"Until winter beak," she affirmed, lifting her glass in toast.

The vodka went down smooth, like every other drink she'd had since entering into Klaus's care. There was no cheap tequila or bargain mart beer. Instead there was perfectly aged wine, bourbon, and scotch. Vodka was smooth and refreshing and tequila went down with ease, no lime or salt needed. She was damn well going to enjoy herself.

()()()

The man who greeted him was old for a vampire. He'd been turned later in life, older than even Mikael had been. But his dark eyes were lively and keen and he hid his age well to the normal population.

"Sehr erfreut," he said. "My old friend."

Elijah smiled and nodded. "It's nice to see you as well, Ulrich. You were away last I was in the area."

"I was helping Alana move and get settled in her new area," he said, ushering Elijah into his home. "And I stayed because we'd been apart for so long."

"How long are we hoping for with her new position?"

Ulrich shrugged as he closed the door. "She's hoping for five to six years, but we'll just have to see. Hopefully the good people of her new home are dumb as rocks."

Elijah nodded, satisfied. He'd left most details to Ulrich for the better part of a century.

"So, my friend, what brings you here?"

Elijah smiled self-deprecatingly as he sat. "I needed a break from my brothers and sister."

"Ah, so Nik finished his tantrum and undaggered them finally?"

"Not quite," Elijah answered with a grin. "It was more complicated than that, as always." He leaned back, relaxing. "I love them but there is only so much I can take at a time."

"I see," Ulrich said, nodding. He collapsed into his own chair and slung his feet up on the coffee table. "What else?"

Elijah raised an eyebrow.

"You can't fool me, Elijah. You searched for your family for years, and you're suddenly leaving them after they're returned to you? There was something else at play."

Elijah was quiet for a long, long time. Then he turned his head to stare out the window. "There was a woman."

Ulrich grinned. "There always is. Tell me about her."

Elijah, choosing his words carefully, did.

()()()

The last thing Elena wanted on her last night before school was for Klaus to pay her a visit. He gave his customary imperial knock and let himself in. She rolled her eyes before she looked up from her book ( _Frozen Heat_ ) and acknowledged his presence.

"Are you feeling sad I'll have a life again tomorrow?" She asked.

He smiled thinly. "I want to be sure that you really are okay,' he said.

"Well, as you can see, I am."

"So eager to get away from me?" He asked lightly.

"No, just eager to get away from here, I guess. The memories are the worst and it'll be good to have the distraction."

"We don't have to stay in England," He pressed.

"That wouldn't solve anything," she said quietly. "I have to find a way to keep going."

"I see." He eyes her. "One of the hybrids will over to pick you up at eight and drive you to the campus. They'll also be there to pick you up after you send your schedule back."

"Sounds like fun."

"Try to have a nice day tomorrow," he said.

Elena could only nod, so puzzled was she by his demeanor. She was still thinking about long after he'd left and she'd made her way upstairs to bed.


	15. Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

* * *

It it was a beautiful day to be walking across campus. She'd been ready to be dropped off earlier that morning. She'd woken up early, faced herself in the mirror and repeated her mantra, her affirmation of strength: "I will say I'm fine. And I will mean it. I will not let myself slip into depression and I will be strong. I will not let myself be destroyed by his actions." The rest of summer after her birthday had felt excruciatingly slow (and at times miserable), but Elena was ready to start fresh and throw herself back into school.

Her first class had been fascinating and as she'd quickly checked her school email, she saw that her next class was cancelled - a less than auspicious start to term, but Elena could manage. She thought she'd head to the library and start reading the assignments on the syllabus her professor for non-western art had sent out.

"You dropped your pen."

Surprised that someone was able to sneak up on her, Elena looked behind her to see a guy offering her a purple pen - hers.

"Thanks," she said. She hadn't realized she'd dropped it in the mass rush for everyone to vacate the classroom. "And here I thought everyone is a pen thief."

He grinned and Elena felt a funny tingling in her stomach. He certainly wasn't fresh out of high school, but he was young, maybe three or four years older than her 22. He had dark hair that nearly flopped over his brown eyes. His smile was funny, as if one side of his mouth just couldn't lift properly. He was, she admitted, very attractive. Hell, he was sexy.

"We have early medieval lit together." He had a faint accent. It wasn't British, it was something else, definitely European.

"We do," Elena acknowledged, realizing he'd been on the opposite side of the classroom, intently taking notes. His head had been down most of the time. "I'm Elena. Elena Masters." She offered her hand.

He took her hand and brought it up to his lips. Her heart fluttered. "I'm Ralf Winters." 

"Ralf?" she asked with a giggle. "Really?"

"Actually it's Radulf. It's a ridiculously antiquated name. I tend to go by Ralf."

Elena tilted her head and she could feel her nose scrunch as she smiled - really, smiled. "I actually kind of like Radulf." German, maybe, she thought.

He gave her an appraising look - not invasive or rude, just admiring. "How long until your next class?"

"I actually just got a cancellation email for my next class, and the one after isn't for a few hours yet."

"I know this is presumptuous of me, but would you mind if I joined you for lunch?"

"You want to invite yourself to my lunch?"

His grin was slow and just a little rakish. "I couldn't be sure you'd invite me yourself, so I decided to take the initiative."

Elena smirked. He was _good_. "That's bold," she said.

"Fortune favors the bold," he said easily.

"I think I can manage to sacrifice a solo lunch for one day," she relented. She wasn't even upset that there would be little, hell, _no_ reading done. She liked this guy.

"I lay myself at your mercy then," he said, arms wide open. The effect was somewhat ruined by his backpack, but it just served to make him seem adorable.

"Let's grab a sandwich," Elena decided. "There's a nice little cafe just off campus."

"That sounds wonderful." Ralf raked a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes.

As he messed with his hair, Elena zeroed in on the ring he wore - old and silver, set with a lapis lazuli stone. It was less ostentatious than the Salvatores' rings, but more elaborate than the simple ones Klaus, Kol, Rebekah, and Elijah wore. She looked from the ring to his beautiful eyes, and then remembered what he'd said, _"It's a ridiculously antiquated name."_ Ralf was a vampire. 

Her heart sank for a moment, but then she shrugged it off. He seemed nice enough and if he was a vampire, he was already familiar with the world she inhabited. It couldn't hurt to get to know him. If he presented any danger, posed any threat, then they'd be paid a visit by whatever Mikaelson vampire was nearest.

They made their way to the cafe Elena had suggested and she was surprised, but really pleased when he pulled her chair out for her and then backed off as she seated herself. A gentleman without being overbearing. The waitress made her way over to their table and took their orders with quiet efficiency.

Elena decided to start the conversation off. "You seem kind of old for college," she observed.

Ralf didn't bat an eye at her rudeness. "I felt like a change," he said with a shrug. "I worked in a clinic for a few years and just needed to get out of there, find something different, challenge myself."

He was _very_ good, Elena decided. As far as explanations from vampires went, his was gold. Stefan Salvatore couldn't have spun one better. "You're not from around here," she stated.

"Neither are you," Ralf shot back playfully. "I'm going to stake a guess and say you're from somewhere off the east coast of the states, somewhere quiet and unassuming."

"You'd be right," she admitted. "Maine." _Not Virginia. Not anymore._

Their waitress brought their drinks and Ralf took the time to study her. "And you don't seem like the kind of girl who'd just run off to England for school. Something else would have brought you here."

"Family business," she acknowledged. "I'm impressed. You're good at this."

The waitress was back again with their lunch. Elena eyed her pressed turkey, Swiss, and aioli pretzel bread sandwich with anticipation that was second only to the shot she was about to send Ralf's way. He picked up one half of his roast beef with pickle, arugala, and blue cheese on rye and had just taken a large bite when she struck.

"So how long have you been a vampire?"

He choked and dropped his food on the plate, staring at her in amazement. She remained serene as he managed to swallow, emotions flashing across his face. He was old, she could tell, but even the oldest vampires could give their feelings away if hit just right - she'd learned that from Klaus himself, along with Rebekah and Kol. Elijah had been much harder to read. She brushed that miserable thought away.

"You think vampires are real?" he asked, trying for skeptical.

Elena shook her head. "I know they exist."

"I think you're crazy," Ralf said.

That wasn't going to work either. "Take off your ring and walk outside," she suggested, nodding to the window, where sunlight was pouring in. "Then we'll see if I'm crazy."

He eyed her speculatively. "That's what gave me away," he mused.

"I've had some practice spotting you guys."

"You're good, Masters," he said.

"I am." The name sat heavily over her. It wasn't a fake name - she _was_ Elena Masters - she'd made herself into Elena Masters. She _liked_ Elena Masters. But... A small part of her wanted to hear him call her "Gilbert," wanted to know what it would sound like in his voice, his accent.

"Is this a problem?" He asked. "My being a vampire?" He kept his voice low.

Elena shook her head. "It's not a deal-breaker," she said, surprising herself with the honest reply.

"I don't sparkle," he said flatly.

She laughed out loud, a real laugh that she hadn't felt since before... "Sparkling _would_ be a deal-breaker."

"How do you know about us? You're not a vampire."

Elena decided she needed a minute and took a bite of her sandwich. She thought about what her next words would be as she enjoyed the flavor and texture. This was a more delicate balancing act than when she dealt with humans. "I used to date one," she said finally. "It didn't work out."

"Too many feedings?" he asked. "Or did he want you to turn?"

"No, nothing like that, not ever. Things happened and we just didn't work anymore. His brother was a vampire too and for a while it seemed like he and I could have been something but I couldn't do that to either of them. They needed each other more than they needed me."

"What else do you know?" His interest was peaked to begin with, but now she knew his world and that was rare.

"Witches and werewolves are real, too." She thought about mentioning Tyler, but decided against exposing the idea of a hybrid. "I actually live with a family of vampires now."

"Seriously?" He asked incredulously. "Tell me you're not..." He trailed off, as if realizing the thought was too offensive to say aloud.

"Their blood slave? Sex slave? Groupie?" Elena laughed at the expression on his face. "Yeah, no. They were leaving and I needed a change and we left together and ended up here."

"And they don't-"

"They don't feed on me. I can handle myself." She studied his face and laughed again. "You were worried I was a groupie!"

"It's not an entirely improbable conclusion," he protested. "A lot of humans who know about us do flock to us, offer themselves."

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. "And did you ever accept?"

He was quiet for a few moments. "When you first turn, the power, the sheer... _fullness_ of everything you suddenly are and what's open to you, it goes to your head if you're not careful. I wasn't careful and for the first few years I was as arrogant and careless as they come. If it was offered, I took." He looked her in the eyes. "But I've never compelled anyone to want me, not ever." He looked down. "There's nothing I regret more than how I behaved after I first turned. I don't like the person I was, that I know I'm still capable of being."

Elena nodded. "Thank you for being so honest with me."

"I don't care to lie."

They talked until he realized he needed to get to his next class. He shared a few stories of his exploits in his younger days - keeping Elena in laughter and suspense. She opened about 'a past breakup that left her down.' They had similar interests in books and entertainment, she found. She was sad to see their free time at an end.

"Would you like to do this again?" He asked as they paid and left the café. "Maybe in the evening and away from campus?"

She wanted to say yes. But the tightening feeling in her stomach stopped her. "You're great," Elena said. "And you're just about everything I could look for."

"But?" He asked, knowing he was being turned down.

"There's no but," she said. "I'm just not there yet. The breakup I told you about, it happened not too long ago. So as much as I want to say yes, I just need to make sure I'm at a place where I can look. We both deserve that."

"Okay," he said. "I can give you time and space. If you decide to hit me up I'll be ready."

Elena shook her head. "I don't want lead you on." _You're more like Katherine than I thought._

"You're not," he said. "I'm leaving you an open invitation because I like you and you're the kind of person who's worth waiting for."

"I really like you," she said quietly. "I'm just not there yet."

"I hope one day you will be," Ralf said. How did make her feel so reassured?

"Me too." And she was sincere.

"I'll see you around, Elena." He turned and started walking what would be the long route back to campus.

Elena, feeling a near-suffocating mix of emotions, sighed and took her usual path back as well. This was going to be a long, long semester.

()()()

"And how was your first day returning to life as a bright-eyed schoolgirl?" Klaus was kicked back in one of her chairs, glass of wine in hand.

Elena rolled her eyes and set her bag down on the floor as the shut the door behind her. "Klaus, how nice of you to visit. Please, come in and make yourself at home," she said dryly.

"Your manners are impeccable," he said with a toothy grin.

"Today was good," she answered, finally. "I had a class get cancelled, but the others were all interesting and a few of us talked about forming a study group."

He said nothing, just staring at her.

"Oh for fuck's sake, I'm fine! It's not like I broke down in tears or had a fit or anything!" She yelled in frustration.

"And now I know you're fine," he said smugly. "Come in and sit down. Dinner should be ready soon." He stood and guided her into the kitchen, where he sat her down and poured her a glass of wine.

"Please stop," she said quietly. "Please stop acting like you care about me."

He was quiet for a few moments, refraining from looking at her. "It's not an act. You're under my care and I am responsible for you. It was a gross error in my judgment that led you to the heartbreak you've suffered."

"What?"

"Elijah had always been taken with you. After he showed up here, it was my hope that he would stay, once he realized that you were staying. I was wrong."

"You really wanted us together?" She asked, looking at her wine rather than him.

"You made him happy. And you seemed to be happy. And knowing what I do about the-"

She cut him off. "I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but it's not your fault. Elijah chose to leave. That's on him, not on you and not on me."

"And here I thought you'd jump at the chance to curse me for all I'm worth," he said with a smirk. "I really must stop underestimating you, Elena Masters."

Elena smirked as well, immensely relieved they were away from the deeper emotional territory and slipping into banter. She downed the wine and held the glass up for him to refill. "You're damn right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't even say how excited I am to finally introduce Ralf. He (and Ulrich!) are so precious to me, as is the inevitable drama.


	16. Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

* * *

Elena soon found herself swept up in the madness and bustle that was school. Her classes were stimulating and challenging. The study groups she'd joined provided both companionship and distraction, as well as hilarious conversations when they'd been studying for hours and were slap-happy. Two students, Luke and Sherrie, had become friends of hers. She'd seen them on campus a few times the year before, but this year she'd gotten to know them and found she liked them. Luke was endlessly cheerful while Sherrie was a little more hardened and skeptical. Despite their eagerness, she'd never invited them back to her place, since she doubted that Klaus would like that and she also didn't like the idea of sharing her sanctuary. Instead they did meet at the school's library to study and at a nearby pub for drinks some nights. 

She'd been having so much fun that past two donations to Klaus were a bother, when before she'd just not thought about them too much. She also found, to her initial dismay, that she missed companionship, romantically speaking. She didn't _want_ to miss it, she'd been burned so badly before and it was a distraction she didn't need in the slightest. But she did miss it and found herself thinking back to vampire she'd encountered on the first day of term. 

She'd liked him - a lot. He was cute, funny, and didn't shy away from the hard, incriminating questions she'd asked him. Honesty was a nice change. But she wasn't sure if she was really ready for whatever he was offering. True to his word, he was friendly and had no expectations of her the times they'd crossed paths afterwards. Luke and Sherrie weren't keen on him, but he'd been polite and friendly to them as well. Mostly she wondered what Klaus's reaction would be if something were to spring up between herself and Ralf. He'd admitted he'd hoped for her and Elijah to be together, that his family would be complete. They all knew how much of a failure that had been. Could Klaus ever accept another vampire into his fold?

She'd made up her mind. A group of students were planning a start-of-December social and if Ralf would still have her, she'd invite him as her date. And Klaus would just have to deal with it.

()()()

It was the coldest day of the term so far, and Elena inhaled the crisp air before adjusting her raspberry knit scarf and matching hat. Any remaining crunchy leaves were trod underneath her brown leather boots as she searched out her intended companion. Ralf could be found making his way to the cafe every Thursday, she hadn't been able to help but notice. There was the usual out pour of students as classes broke, and she ignored the hustle and bustle until she saw the familiar backpack. She made her way through and spoke his name, knowing his heightened hearing would pick it up over the crowd. He slowed and moved to the side so as not to disrupt student flow and she navigated towards him.

"You spoke, Milady?" Ralf asked, a devastating smile on his face. She liked his smile, it was so... him.

Elena smiled shyly. "Yeah. I was uh, wanting to talk to you and decided lunch was the way to do it."

"Inviting yourself to my lunch? That's bold," he said.

Elena gave him a cheeky grin. "Fortune favors the bold."

"It does indeed."

He escorted her to the cafe where they were seated, pulling her chair out for her. They ordered and talked about this and that while waiting. It was light and cheery: "how was your day?" and "are classes going well?" When the waitress came back with steaming bowls of soup and hot-pressed sandwiches, Elena decided it was now or never.

"There's actually an ulterior motive for me wanting to talk to you," she said.

He paused, soup spoon halfway to his mouth. "Oh?"

"Yeah. There's uh, the December social some of the students are planning and I was hoping you'd want to go with me. Together." She forced herself to look him in the eye. This was her going after what she wanted, throwing caution to the wind (again) and taking that chance. She'd been burned before, she knew, but she couldn't let that make her so afraid of being hurt that she'd never try again.

"You're asking me out?"

"I am," she said.

Ralf smiled so brilliantly that Elena forgot all about her worries. "I would love to be your escort," he said.

"And beyond that?"

"I would love to be your beyond that, too."

Elena laughed, absolutely charmed. Ralf was so... well, like no one she'd ever encountered. And maybe, she thought, that would be a good thing. Sure, he was a vampire. But he didn't know about doppelgängers or deals or Salvatore brothers or towns that ripped her life apart.

"So, how have you been?" He asked.

"Good," Elena said truthfully. "School has been a miracle for me. I needed a distraction and the more I threw myself into it, the more I found myself realizing that I wasn't distracting myself so much as living. Does that make any sense?" She asked hopefully.

"Actually, it does," he said. "And I'm happy to see you happy."

Elena blushed. She hadn't realized that he'd paid attention to her while she was trying to sort herself out. "What about you?" She countered.

"I like it," he said. "It's been a while since I've actually attended school, but I needed a break from my day job." He smiled and sipped at his coffee and swirled the spoon in his soup around. "I usually work as a paramedic, and pick up shifts in a clinic. I do have an actual medical degree, but it's from years and years back. I've kept up on current medicine, but I like the pace of the medic better. I was in Boston before coming back over here. Before that, I stayed in a small town in Montana. There was a not-for-profit place I helped out in." He shrugged. "I love helping people but it's been nice, taking a break. When I do it's usually for a few years and then I'm right back into it."

Elena eyed him. "A vampire paramedic?"

He grinned. "My oldest sister is a doctor. And then there's our younger brother who's an RN and our younger sister who's a phlebotomist. They're all vampires, too."

"Are you sure you don't sparkle?"

Ralf threw back his head and laughed. "It's kind of the family business. My father helped another vampire set it up. We work in clinics and hospitals, and own and run some. The patients get the care they need. Sometimes we can bring them back from the brink of death."

"And what do you guys get?"

Ralf sighed. "Blood. A small amount of the blood taken is shipped to this other vampire and shared amongst us. Bags and refrigeration were a godsend." He smiled self-deprecatingly. "Have I scared you off? Now that you know my deep dark secret?"

Elena thought for a few moments and then shook her head. "I should be repulsed but I can't be. I don't know if it's because it makes sense or if my morals are just completely warped after being around vampires for so long."

"Both, probably," Ralf said. "Living for hundreds of years grants us a unique perspective and there's also the fact that we're a rather corrupting influence."

"So," Elena said, deciding to change the topic. "What time do you want to meet up this next Friday?"

"I don't get to pick you up from your home?"

She shook her head. "No, but you can meet my keepers afterwards." Klaus would insist on meeting Ralf at some point and the longer she could keep the fact that Ralf was vampire under wraps, the better. Managing Klaus was doable, but she had to be smart about it.

"Then let's meet here and then join the others fashionably late." He considered. "How casual is this party of theirs going to be?"

Elena shrugged. "Nothing too glitzy. Super short dresses for the ladies and whatever isn't wrinkled for the guys."

"I can't wait," Ralf said. And he did look excited. He, like the others, had probably been to hundreds of parties. "Anything for a party."

"That seems to be the motto of most vampires I've met," she said dryly. "What is it with you guys and parties?"

He shrugged. "They keep life from being so damn dull."

"You're all so weird," Elena said.

"And you love us anyway."

Elena couldnt help but smile. "Yeah, I do."

()()()

Rebekah was put out when she realized that Elena had bought a party dress without her input. She insisted on doing Elena's make-up, so Elena put up with it, since the vampire still wasn't over the haircut, even if she'd had the pink colored over a couple of weeks prior.

"I suppose you'll do," Rebekah finally pronounced. And looking in the mirror, Elena thought it was an understatement. Her dress was sexy in an understated way, with it's gauzey dark blue top and gauzey cream skirt with gold and blue sequins in a chevron-like pattern. It hit shorter than Elena usually liked, but she was feeling daring. Her bobbed hair had been artfully dishelveled with some texturizing wax and thanks to Rebekah, her gaze was smokey and seductive.

"I look hot," Elena countered, slipping into her gold heels.

"Here's to hoping that in the event Klaus lets you out of the manor wearing that, you're not picked up for prostitution."

Well, she hadn't expected Rebekah to still be _that_ pissed.

"Thanks for your help," Elena said, smiling. "No one does smokey eyes better than you." Kill her with kindness, she figured.

Once downstairs, Kol let out a wolf whistle and Klaus gave her the once over before nodding his approval. Rebekah rolled her eyes and stomped back upstairs.

"A hybrid will be driving you," Klaus proclaimed. "And I expect to meet this escort of yours."

"You will," Elena promised, shrugging into the wrap Kol was holding for her. "I'll only be gone for a few hours and I have extra money for a cab in case I need to leave sooner."

"Enjoy painting the town red," Kol urged. "Do everything I would do."

"Thanks," she said.

()()()

His jaw nearly hit the floor when she stepped out of the car in front of the cafe. Elena motioned for the hybrid to leave and with a dark look at Ralf, he did.

Ralf offered Elena his arm and she took it, allowing him to lead her the few blocks to the pub. It wasn't packed, but there were more students than she expected. She saw a few she recognized, and a few whose names she actually remembered. Ralf helped her out of her wrap, handed it to the man overseeing the coat check, and then kissed her hand.

"You are stunning," he said, gaze remaining on her face.

"You don't look too shabby yourself," Elena returned.

He was dashing in a pair of fitted black slacks, polished black shoes, and a charcoal grey button-up shirt. His dark hair had been brushed back, but was already starting to fall free and over his eyes.

"Ready to party?" he asked. "I'll have you know, I'm a dancing fool."

"What have I gotten myself into?"

Ralf ginned that heart-melting grin of his and Elena grabbed his hand to lead him off to where everyone was dancing.

()()()

"This place is looking really familiar," he said, turning where she directed him onto what, no matter what time of day, would be a long and winding road leading up to the estate.

"Really?"

"I used to live around here for a time, I went to more estates and house parties than I can count."

Elena eyed him curiously. There was no way- surely he hadn't?

"Elena, please tell me this is a joke," he said as they progressed along the familiar area surrounded by trees and small, solar-powered lights.

"What joke?" She asked.

"Elena, this can't be where you live. This estate belongs to the oldest vampires in existence. I used to come here all the time."

Elena felt her heart sink. "You know Klaus?"

Ralf abruptly stopped the car and just stared at her.

"I live with Klaus and his family. I have for the past few years," she said quietly.

"And they haven't killed you?" He asked incredulously.

Elena shook her head. "Klaus and I have an agreement. They won't hurt me."

He said nothing. She felt like a nervous wreck, after feeling on top of the world all night. He's been the perfect date, humorous and attentive and dashing. Now she could see that "beyond that" he'd agreed to slipping away.

"I can walk back from here if you'd like," she offered.

"That's not going to happen," he said. "If I wasn't completely taken with you before, I certainly am now."

"What?"

"I've known that family for years; we used to run around together. And not once was any human truly welcome with them. If you've managed to sway them all to your side then you're even more amazing than I thought."

"You're not going to run away screaming?"

"That depends. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms."

Elena raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"

"Kol," he said, understanding her perfectly.

"You really went for broke, didn't you?"

He laughed. "Oh yes. It ended with me being put through a wall. Klaus was _not_ happy with either of us."

Elena shook her head. "I'm dating someone insane enough to cross Kol. This is going to end so well."

"Friendly reminder that _you_ sought _me_ out this time around."

Elena couldn't help it, she laughed.

She was still giggling by the time Ralf pulled up in front of the now-imposing mansion. "You still have time to back out, you know," she said once they'd parked and made their way to the front door.

"Not a chance in hell," he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually meant to have this chapter posted mid-December, and then the next chapter finished and posted in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, I was pulled into an emergency three-week project at work, which ate up most of my free time. It's a good thing I don't do posting schedules, I guess.


	17. Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

* * *

As they came into the front hall, a dark blur shot towards them and Elena shouted. Faster than she could see, Ralf was grabbed, lifted, and thrown through the nearest wall. Then his assailant moved to stand in front of her protectively.

"You have some nerve coming back here, you buggering traitor," Kol finally said. There was no trace of amusement in his voice.

"Kol, what in the bleeding hell have you done to my wall?" Klaus's was making his way down the staircase and Elena took the opportunity to remove herself from Kol's "protection" and tend to Ralf. He was no longer groaning which was a good sign.

The younger brother wasn't happy with that and made to attack Ralf again, but without thinking Elena did the one thing she was never supposed to do. She put herself in Kol's path and at his speed he was unable to avoid hitting her.

At their contact, a loud rumble and flash of light sent Kol flying backwards into an antique table. Rebekah, who had followed Klaus down the stairs to see what the commotion was, shrieked in pain and toppled down the rest of the staircase. Klaus, too, let out an agonized shout as he fell.

Elena stood there unscathed but paralyzed with horror at what she'd done. She _knew_ better, knew what would happen if one of them attempted to harm her, but she hadn't been able to stop herself from defending Ralf.

"What the hell was that?" The man in question asked her as he stood up and took in the sight of three Original vampires sprawled on the floor, still groaning weakly.

Elena just shook her head, mouthing wordlessly, and moved to help Klaus up. "I'm sorry," she told him, as tears started to fall. "I'm so sorry."

Klaus groaned as the heavier after-effects of the magic faded away and waved her off. "We'll be having words later, believe me. And that goes for you as well, Kol. You know better."

Klaus turned his attention to Rebekah, who had managed to shakily get herself up on her feet. "I hate when that happens," she said wearily.

"What the hell is going on?" Ralf asked, looking from Elena, to her keepers, and back to Elena. To his surprise, Elena looked to Klaus, rather than answer his question.

Klaus eyed him speculatively. "Elena, wait here with Kol and Rebekah. You," he said, pointing to Ralf. "Will be coming with me."

Elena's heart sank as Klaus led her date upstairs and out of sight. Ralf was as good as dead; she'd all but killed him. Why had she been so selfish? Why couldn't she have just sucked up the loneliness and gotten over it?

()()() 

Klaus knew he'd need a drink for this.

"I must say that this is quite the surprise, meeting up with you again. If I recall correctly, I last saw you as you went crashing through the downstairs wall after Kol caught you with his latest toy all those years ago."

Ralf grinned and took the drink Klaus offered him. "Memories."

"We'd heard you died," Klaus continued.

"Greatly exaggerated," Ralf said, making himself comfortable in one of Klaus's high-backed chairs. "I did however get the hell out of dodge."

"So now you're back and set on wooing Elena." Despite the fact that the other man was seated, Klaus didn't feel like he was enjoying the power difference he'd meant to establish. He looked down at Ralf, for a moment seeing an immaculately knotted cravat and a dark blue topcoat of superfine - the evening wear of a man he, Elijah, and Kol had once called friend.

Ralf shrugged. "She decided to pursue me, _after_ she shot me down the first day of term. I beleive it was something to do with a bad breakup."

Klaus smirked. _There_ was his chance to rattle the young upstart. "I take it she didn't mention his name?"

Ralf shook his head. "Nor did I ask. To be honest I'm amazed she even gave me a second thought at all."

"I share your amazement," Klaus drawled, positively gleeful. "Considering the man in question is Elijah."

Ralf was visibly shaken at that, but Klaus had to admit - albeit reluctantly - that he recovered admirably. "He left. I haven't."

"Yet."

"You're so sure I'll leave without her wanting me to?"

"I and by extension, my family, have a very unique relationship with Elena. The particulars are private and of no concern to you." 

"Like you all getting laid on your asses when Kol hit her?"

Klaus briefly imagined ripping the man's heart out. "That's a part of it, yes. But there are other things, things Elijah obviously couldn't make peace with, that may test your so-called commitment. When your inevitable departure comes, it will be me who picks up the pieces."

"I'm Elena's for as long as she wants me."

"Why her?"

Ralf was quiet for a moment. "She's... she's smart. And compassionate. She has a sense of humor that's just short of being mean. She can point out observations about books that I've never considered or noticed in the hundreds of years I've been reading them. She's brave, she has to be, considering that she lives with you. And she's clever, obviously, because few people ever cause you bodily harm and live afterwards." He'd wanted to say "because she has you wrapped her finger," but he didn't have a death wish.

"When I look at her, or when I'm around her, I feel lighter. I want to make her smile and laugh, because she seems like she's too familiar with sadness."

There wasn't much Klaus could say to that, so he busied himself pouring another two drinks and thought. Ralf wasn't getting close to Elena to get close to them - he'd been shocked to see them, it had looked like. Hearing him extoll qualities other than Elena's beauty hadn't changed - Ralf was something of a romantic, though he'd stopped short of falling in with the imbeciles who gathered to discuss poetry and pseudo-introspective musings on life. There was still Kol to consider - his brother would likely not let it go. And Elena... He didn't want a repeat of the summer.

"I don't like this," he said, handing Ralf his usual drink.

"I don't care," Ralf answered honestly. "I care about Elena and I think I can make her happy." He shrugged and drank. "And you wouldn't have dragged me up here to talk if you weren't at least a little concerned with her happiness."

"Kol still hates you."

"He'll get over himself sooner or later."

"After what you did I doubt it." Kol had fumed up until Klaus had driven the dagger into his unsuspecting heart.

"I'm not afraid of Kol. Or Elijah. Or even you, if it comes to that." Ralf didn't draw himself up, but he did look Klaus in the eye.

"And Rebekah?"

Ralf smiled wryly. "A man would have to be mental not to fear her particular brand of crazy."

Klaus nodded in agreement and downed his scotch. "Smart man."

"So, can I get back to Elena now?"

"A few things first."

Klaus spent the next ten minutes laying out various rules in excruciating detail, making it very clear that Ralf was to be on his best behavior or else. "If you so much as think of biting her I will find out and you as well as the man you call father and those morons you call siblings will be dead."

Ralf nodded, but a smirk was playing about his lips. "Understood. I'm not going to hurt her."

"Good."

()()()

Elena sat downstairs, ignoring glares from Kol and intrigued looks from Rebekah. Her stomach felt as though it was twisting itself into knots and she couldn't stop thinking that her selfishness in thinking she could ever be happy before this deal with Klaus was up had led to Ralf's demise. Every now and then she'd catch Kol muttering darkly about Ralf under his breath before looking at the stairs.

Finally Elena heard a pair - no, _two_ pairs of feet on the stairs and she jumped up and turned to see Ralf descending with Klaus. She ran up to where he stood looking down at her with a heated look, and without a thought to their audience, Elena cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. His arms wrapped around her and when she finally had to break for air, he smiled down at her.

"You can't be serious!" howled Kol, looking outraged. "You might as well have just daggered me again!"

"Yes, Kol," Klaus drawled. "Keeping Elena's boy toy of choice alive is exactly like putting you down for a hundred years or so."

"Kol, please," Elena pleaded. "Please don't."

He glared at her and Ralf, before turning on his heel and swiftly leaving the manor. They all heard the door slam and the glass break.

"He'll probably destroy your car," Rebekah said to Ralf, finally speaking.

Ralf shrugged and continued to smile at Elena. "I'll just buy a new one."

Elena couldn't help but smile promisingly at him as she took his hand and led him down the remaining stairs and towards the front doors. They were at the door when Klaus spoke again, too low for Elena to hear. "Ralf?"

"Yes?" he squeezed her hand answered just as quietly without turning back.

"If Elijah comes back and decides to kill you, you're on your own."

"Noted."

()()()

Neither Elena nor Ralf spoke as they made their way to Elena's cottage hand in hand. It was cold outside, but with his jacket over her shoulders and the warmth of his gaze, Elena barely felt chilled. The moon illuminated the path they took and if he'd swung her into his arms for an impromptu dance, she wouldn't have complained. When they finally arrived at her cottage door, she pulled him in for another kiss. She let a hand drop away to open the door behind her, the warm glow from various lamps and candles spilling out along with a rush of heat from her fireplace. She broke the kiss and stepped into her doorway. She took a steadying breath and gave herself over to happiness.

"Ralf, would you like to come inside?"

He stepped inside, closed the door behind him, and lifted her hand to his lips. "Yes," he said finally. At her questioning look he added, "Everything else I could have said would have been filthy."

"Well then, follow me upstairs and you can tell me exactly what you were thinking."

He didn't wait for her to turn and lead the way; he instead lifted her into his arms and took the stairs two at a time. He found her room on the first try and he'd set her down gently on her feet. She stepped out of her heels and pushed them aside with a foot. He added a few logs to the fire and he kicked off his own shoes and began to unbutton his shirt.

When they were at last bare to each other, Elena pulled Ralf to her and kissed him. His arms went around her, holding her close against him as he kissed her. Even when she broke for air, his embrace remained. It was terrifyingly intimate, standing in his arms, naked, and in front of the crackling fire. But Elena could feel her heart beating and it wasn't speeding up in fear - she was well acquainted with that sensation. It was pounding out a rhythm that sung of anticipation and trust, of need and desire. She inclined her head to meet his gaze and spoke quietly.

"Take me to bed."

He lifted her without a word and set her down on her bed with a gentleness that surprised her. He joined her, taking in his fill of her even as she drank him as if he were a libation poured out just for her. His hands moved over her body with utmost care and reverence. He didn't rush, but took his time, offering his body up for her own use and finally Elena let herself open to him.

There were no words spoken as they learned each other, pleasured each other. The tenderness in his every kiss, stroke, caress took her breath away, and with every sigh, touch offered in return she tried to show him how much she cared for him, wanted him. Elena felt as though a missing part of her was being filled as the loved her. When she felt her body tense, anticipating that glorious fall, felt him shudder with each movement, her lips formed three words _I love you,_ and they reached their completion together. One day she would be able to say them out loud.

 

Spent and trembling in others arms, her downy comforter pulled up to cover them, they kissed lazily, both entirely at peace with the world. Elena didn't let bad memories intrude or worry of the next day plague her.

Sunlight would come and they would face it together.


	18. Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

* * *

Elena and Ralf were near inseparable.

The remainder of term seemed to pass them by quickly. Ralf would drive them to campus and they'd go about their days, sometimes in the same classes, other times not. He was easily accepted into her circle of friends, with few exceptions. Sherrie and Luke didn't appreciate that Elena spent so much time with Ralf, but she gave it little thought. Neither one seemed to like him, though they couldn't give a reason why other than "he just seems off."

It was strange having someone live with her after so long, but Ralf fit into her little cottage like he'd always been there. Some mornings he made them breakfast before they went to class. Other mornings, she made the pair of them late because she couldn't seem to stop kissing him and pulling him on top of her. Being with Ralf was as easy as breathing. There was no thought to it, no need to fight for it, because everything was just there. Elena was, she realized one morning as she watched him sleeping next to her, happy.

Klaus eventually seemed to accept that Ralf was there to stay and made himself amicable. Rebekah didn't seem to care either way, but wasn't rude about it. Kol had been the hardest for Ralf to win over, given the history between them.

"You haven't fooled me, backstabber," Kol had said one afternoon.

"I don't need to fool you." He shrugged. "You jumped to conclusions and you never gave me a chance to explain the backstabbing. I suppose putting me through the walls was much simpler for you."

"You deserved it!"

"Agreed."

Elena gripped Ralf's hand, eyeing Kol warily. She didn't need another fight on her hands. "What happened?"

"He pretended to be my friend then seduced the girl I was courting away from me. I had to kill her in the end." Kol said lightly. "As I said, backstabber."

"Ralf?" Elena questioned.

"I did you a favor," Ralf said simply. "You were just too dense to realize it."

"Really?" Kol's voice was scathing, skeptical.

"Amelia knew what you were."

"What?" Kol asked quietly. He sat down.

Ralf nodded. "She came to me with her suspicions and I seduced her, as you said. I managed to get her off the vervain she so desperately clung to. She'd been meeting with a hunter, some man she called Mikael. They were planning a strike against your family. I couldn't let that happen."

"Mikael was in London?"

"Or thereabouts. She didn't know exactly. By the time she was dead and I could think again, you'd all fled." He shook his head. "I faked my death and ran. I wasn't about to put myself in the path of a hunter."

"I'm not going to say thank you, if that's what you're wanting," Kol said finally.

"I don't. I should have told you what was going on, but you four were never the most calm and collected in the face of danger."

Kol grudgingly nodded. They wouldn't have been able to keep from making a scene and drawing Mikael out. Running for hundreds of years had been chaotic enough.

"Where did you all end up, anyways?"

"New Orleans," Kol said. "I hear it was rather interesting for our family. I wouldn't know personally, considering I had a dagger shoved in my heart."

"Oh?"

"Klaus seemed to think I needed a time-out for not playing nicely."

"Imagine that."

"I don't know where he got that idea," Kol continued.

"I don't know, the betting book at Whites?" Ralf queried with a grin.

"Elijah has the originals stored somewhere for safekeeping," Kol said. "I know I have a perfect memory, but just seeing some of those old bets would be nice."

Ralf snorted. "You're always so impressed with yourself."

"Only because I'm so impressive," Kol retorted. And in that moment, Elena saw, they were friends again. She frowned, hoping that she wouldn't end up a third wheel to their bromance.

"Well, this has been entertaining," Ralf said as he stood up, drawing Elena with him. "But it's getting late and I haven't had a chance to debauch Elena as thoroughly as I would like, so I'll be remedying that."

"So there will be the promised debauchery?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Of course," Ralf said. "I never go back on a promise." He ran his hands down her back to rest on her bottom. "There will _always_ be debauchery."

With a giggle, Elena led him from the manor and to her cottage.

()()()

Elena lay in Ralf's arms, tracing patterns on a bicep. "How are you so comfortable with Klaus and the others?" she asked.

"Hmm?" His face was still lax in the manner of a man who had just been extremely well-pleasured.

"Other vampires I've known are terrified of the Originals, or deferential at the very least. You're not."

Ralf thought for a moment. "I've known them for hundreds of years," he said. "And when I first met them, they were everything I aspired to be: powerful, confident, so content with their lot in life. And as I got to know them, I began to understand them the way humans understand each other. So to me Klaus and the others are just another family, another group of vampires I know."

"They just don't really tolerate disrespect."

Ralf laughed. "There's a difference between familiarity and disrespect. And that difference becomes blurred as years pass. If any of them thought I was rising above my station in their eyes, I assure you I would be quite permanently dead."

Elena didn't say anything, just kept tracing patterns.

"Hey," he said as he tilted her head up. "What plagues you so, Elena?"

"I don't want you to get hurt," she said. "Everybody around me always gets hurt. It's part of why I left, why I'm with Klaus. I couldn't handle it if you were hurt, too."

He kissed her forehead and held her closer. "I can't promise I won't get hurt, Elena, because life is just too unpredictable. I can promise that I won't go looking for trouble, and that I will do my best to keep from getting hurt. But if I do get hurt, Elena, then it's on me and whoever hurt me, not you."

"What if I'm the person who hurts you?" She whispered, divulging her greatest fear.

"Then it will be sweet agony that I endure." He smiled down at her. "Get some sleep. You have that day planned with Klaus, right?"

"Right," she said, her insides twisting because he still didn't know. This would be the first time he dealt with it, and she wasn't sure if there would still be a them after.

()()()

Ralf was still asleep when she left her cottage, making the short walk to where Klaus was waiting beside his car. "How sleeps your paramour?"

"Fine, I guess," she replied, nerves taut. "Let's just get this over with."

"You still haven't told him," Klaus said knowingly. "For shame, Elena."

"It's hard to work it into conversation," Elena said tightly. "Can we go now?"

"As you wish," he said, opening her door for her before smoothly speeding around to enter on his side.

He kept up a stream of annoying chatter, apparently determined to push her buttons, which on donation day, was rare for him. On donation day and the day after he was usually on his best behavior around her. Elena wondered if it was due to Ralf, but quickly dismissed it. Her time with Klaus had taught her that he sometimes had moods that led to his desire to aggravate her, or whoever else was nearby, without malicious intent.

He had the compelled lab tech to collect two pints and after she'd drank a small bottle of Klaus's blood, pushed a snack of a chocolate chip cookie and orange juice on her when the tech removed the needle and bandaged the small puncture. Elena nodded her way through the tech's instructions for post-care (she was an expert on the subject) and allowed Klaus to escort her out. He surprised her by stopping at a small cafe that was open for breakfast. "You should eat, Elena," he said. "And I fancy a cup of poorly made coffee."

"I just want to go home and sleep," Elena said, embarrassed the half-whine that laced her words.

"And you can, after you've eaten. What can you stomach?"

Elena considered. "Fruit and bacon," she decided. No eggs or oatmeal, I don't think they'd stay down."

Klaus escorted her into the cafe, sat her down in a booth where anyone would have to go through him to get at her, placed their order, and studied her. "You're unhappy," he said bluntly. "Is he causing it?"

Surprised, Elena lifted her head from where it had been resting on her crossed arms and stared at him. "What?"

"Is that miscreant making you unhappy?" he asked again.

"No," Elena said, shaking her head. "I've just been worried about him. Everyone I care about is hurt in one way or another so I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"That shoe has been put far out of reach," Klaus said blandly. "And frankly, you need to get over it."

Elena frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone gets hurt. Sometimes it's unavoidable, other times it is. And when people choose something, knowing what could happen, then it's on them, not you. If those milk-brained peasants weren't getting hurt trying to help you, then they would be hurt while trying to help someone else. That's who they are, and those are the choices they made, not you. I've seen their kind, and that sort never passes up an opportunity to put on their hero hair and fuck up saving the day."

Elena was quiet. The waitress placed their food on their table and hurried off, perhaps sensing the serious air around the two of them.

"And they had no business blaming you for when they inevitably fucked up." Klaus took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. "Horrible," he said lightly.

"Have you checked that damned book space site lately?" he asked, as she ate her fruit in quiet contemplation.

"No," she said.

"I have hybrids watching your hometown. Deaths haven't stopped, and supernatural attacks continue to happen." His voice took on an exaggerated lean. "And if you're here, and stuff is going on there..."

"Then it's not just me," Elena said.

"Take my advice, Elena. Go home and rest. Bring your lover over for dinner tonight. Then once you're back in your cottage, explain what you can without triggering our deal, and shag him senseless."

Elena nearly spit out her bacon.

"It's not as though you aren't capable," Klaus continued dryly. Then he sobered. "Our time together isn't even halfway over. You may as well enjoy yourself."

()()()

Ralf was reading on her sofa when Klaus brought her home. He jumped up in worry when he saw her fatigued body in Klaus's arms. "Who drained her?" he asked, recognizing the signs. "I can do a field transfusion, but it'll be rough."

"'M fine," Elena mumbled. "Just need to rest." She curled in deeper against Klaus. "Take me upstairs."

Wordlessly, Klaus complied, with Ralf hot on his trail. The younger vampire watched in confusion as Klaus helped her remove her clothing and dress in a nightgown before tucking her into bed and pulling up an extra quilt.

"What is going on?" Ralf asked Klaus, shocked into deferring to the hybrid.

"I'll tell you later," Elena mumbled. "I promise. I need to sleep now."

"Alright," Ralf said, leaning over to brush her hair back from her forehead.

"Hold me?" came her pitiful request.

Ralf cast a look at Klaus, who was giving him a measuring stare, obviously waiting to see if he'd bail.

"Of course."

"If that's settled," Klaus said, far quieter than usual. "Then I'll see you both at dinner tonight. 7 sharp."

"Klaus go'way," was Elena's mumble, as Ralf dressed down and climbed into bed to take her into her arms.

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I started a long time ago and managed to continue in a strange fit of inspiration. It's mostly an exercise for myself, but I figured I might as well share it. The title is from "One Night in Bangkok," from the musical "Chess."


End file.
